JUSTIN Leppitsch has vowed his Brisbane Lions will continue to throw punches and not adopt an ultra-defensive game style.

Brisbane are winless after three rounds and sit at the bottom of the ladder with a percentage of 51.4 after losses of 82 and 79 point in the past two weeks.

With their two main key forwards in Jonathan Freeman and Michael Close injured – the Lions lack a target in offence and haven’t looked like kicking the 15 to 20 goals needed to win most weekends in the AFL.

Asked if he was prepared to alter his game style temporarily – adopting a heavy tag and putting extra numbers behind the ball in a bid to reduce the size of the losses until he gets key players such as Tom Rockliff and Pearce Hanley back from injury, Leppitsch was unequivocal.

He said it was critical for the side’s development to steer the course and more offensive run, not less, was required to give the midfielders a chance to contribute on the scoreboard.

“It is like a boxer going in and holding his hands up for 12 rounds, it might keep him in the fight longer but at some stage you’ve got to throw some punches,’’ he told The Courier-Mail.

“Sometime the best form of defence is offence.

“We were in the game for a big part of last week, we just couldn’t hit the scoreboard.

“We are confident in what we are doing, I don’t see changing game style is the answer.’’

In addition to eliminating the confidence-sapping hidings the Lions have been copping, a defensive plan could also deliver a win against West Coast.

Fremantle coach Ross Lyon showed in Sunday’s derby that the key to beating West Coast is to put a heavy tag on Luke Shuey and demand an increased level of accountability from Andrew Gaff’s opponent.

With the West Coast defence in tatters due to injuries to Mitch Brown, club champion Eric MacKenzie and Jeremy McGovern the Lions are capable of kicking a winning score if they can limit the opportunities of Eagles’ forwards Josh Kennedy and Mark LeCras.

Rohan Bewick has successfully tagged on occasion and Jack Redden is asked to be accountable.

The major reason Leppitsch is reluctant to assign heavy tags is it can break down the team defensive press he is attempting to employ because it takes one man out of the zone.

Bottling the game up, like Paul Roos did in his first year at Melbourne is an option.

But the Lyon-Roos game plan forces a lot of contests and is suited to a more physically developed side than the young Lions.

Leppitsch says the risk of such a strategy is the game is played entirely in their defensive half which could also lead to a massive loss.