FOOTBALLERS usually try not to dwell on losses but Nigel Lappin says being able to move on from a win helped the Brisbane Lions post their sixth victory of the season against Melbourne by 44 points on Saturday night.

The previous week’s shock road win over reigning premier West Coast was exactly what the Lions needed, having not secured four points since round six, when they beat Fremantle at the Gabba.

Lappin, however, believes putting the Eagles win behind them was an important factor in the Lions being able to exorcise the Demons at the Gabba.

"We felt good coming off last week – but we realised there wasn’t much point in feeling good if we didn’t capitalise on the way we played against the Eagles," Lappin said.

"We knew we had to keep working hard and doing the same things right. And I think we did that.

"Our pressure around the ball probably wasn’t as good as it was against West Coast, but we had the ball in our hands in the midfield a fair bit so we were able to get away with that."

The Lions ability to build on their first win at Subiaco in six years was evidenced by a first term on Saturday night in which they had 12 scoring shots to the Demon’s one.

More than that, Leigh Matthews’ side had 41 points on the board before Melbourne was able to trouble the scorer.

"The first quarter was as good as we’ve played for a while," Lappin said.

"The ball flowed well, we used the hands to break up the play when we needed to and our kicking skills were good.

"On top of that, our forwards took marks and we kicked goals, which makes a huge difference.

"We still could have kicked more goals but overall it was pretty good."

Lappin is now 12 games into a comeback from a run of leg problems that cost him the tail end of 2005 and all of last season.

While he is yet to think beyond the end of this year, Lappin says he is recovering better from matches than he was earlier in the campaign.

"I’m still not pulling up quite as well as I would have liked – I’ll be great one week and then not so flash the next," he said.

"But maybe that’s got something to do with having just turned 31!

"To be honest, I haven’t thought too far ahead and I’m just concentrating on having as good a season as I can.

"The good thing is that I’m pulling up much better than I was in my first few games back. I can get out [on the training track] most Mondays and do some work and I haven’t always been able to do that in previous seasons."