A GASTRO bug scuttled the Brisbane Lions before Saturday's clash against North Melbourne, but it was a lack of leadership and desire that was most responsible for their 87-point loss, according to coach Justin Leppitsch.
The Lions were forced to replace club champions Tom Rockliff and Joel Patfull pre-game because of illness, and Dayne Zorko was also affected before he was substituted in the third quarter.
But whether or not other players had been impacted by the bug in the past week, Leppitsch said: "It doesn't mean you can't put your head over the ball when it's your turn.
"You've got to soldier on – that's the lesson for our guys.
"The footy gods are going to do these things to you at times and you've got to keep persisting. We didn't do that.
"Desire, confidence, pro-activeness, its all sort of bundled up together
"Which one is it? All I know is it looks like they're in front with the ball in their hands and we're chasing."
Leppitsch said Saturday's heavy loss, which saw the Lions concede 40 scoring shots to just eight, had similarities to the 113-point loss to Port Adelaide in round four.
"There's too many games where we've just been out-handled and outrun now ... those games where they hit us on the inside and then break away," he said.
"We just get on the back foot a little bit.
"Sometimes it's leadership and sometimes it's desire, because there's been games where we've stayed in the game like last week."
Having lost the contested ball 146-88 and the inside 50 count 61-37, Leppitsch said his team "didn't throw a counter-punch all day" and waited for the Kangaroos "to pick up the ball before we reacted."
The lack of forward entries starved champion Jonathan Brown of opportunities, with the veteran failing to register a possession in the second half and finishing with just two touches.
"'Browny' was probably a little underdone coming into the game, we knew that," Leppitsh said.
"For a big part of the game we played a spare behind the ball, which means (Michael) Close and Brown had an extra defender to deal with.
"You know when you do that you're just going to make life tough for them."
With a much-needed break in round 10, he said the return of Rockliff, Patfull and suspended defender Matt Maguire would help against Carlton at the Gabba in a fortnight.
He said he hoped the Lions' competitiveness would improve each week for the remainder of the season and there would be more games like their sole win, against St Kilda in Wellington.
"Talk about limping into the bye, we've done that," he said.
"I think with more experienced personnel that will come back over the next six weeks and over the break we'll get more of that.
"The days like this where we just completely get blown out of the park, hopefully they're limited."
