BRISBANE LIONS coach Leigh Matthews has declared the Lions on track for a much-improved AFL season despite his side going down in Saturday night’s NAB Cup grand final against Carlton at Telstra Dome in Melbourne.

The Lions lost the pre-season decider by 25 points as they ran out of legs in the final quarter, perhaps not surprising considering it was the fourth successive week they had played on the road during the competition.

But despite losing Tim Notting to a dislocated shoulder, an injury that is likely to sideline the dual premiership player for at least six weeks, as well as seeing young pair Cameron Wood and Ben Fixter end up on report, Matthews was more than satisfied with the club's pre-season overall.

“It has been a productive pre-season campaign,” Matthews said.

“There are a lot of players that feel better about themselves than a month ago because they have played some pretty good footy.”

The Lions were widely tipped to struggle in 2007 after having finished 13th last year, their lowest position since Matthews took over as coach in 1999, the year after the club claimed the wooden spoon. The club lost its last six matches of 2006 by an average of nearly nine goals.

But Matthews said there were plenty of reasons for Lions’ fans to be optimistic about the season ahead, particularly after the successful return on Saturday night of champion forward Jonathan Brown.

Brown, playing his first game since round 10 last year, struggled early but kicked two goals in the final term.

“He got better as the game went on,” Matthews said of his star forward.

Matthews said his young players would benefit enormously from playing in front of a near full house at Telstra Dome.

“It’s a good base to go into the season with,” he said.

“The side is fairly different now both with (the return of some key) personnel and the improvement of guys with another year under their belt.”

“I always felt we had a better list than most people gave us credit for and while the legs might not have been too good tonight, the spirit was there and that is the way they have played over the last month.”