HE IS far from high profile but Joel Patfull is quietly making his name as the Mr Fixit of the Brisbane Lions defence.

At 190cm and with pace to burn Patfull is the ideal build for the modern defender, and is one of the most inform backmen in the competition.

His versatility has seen him take on the likes of Travis Cloke and Brett Deledio in the past month.

Deledio gave him the run around early on Saturday against the Tigers at the MCG, but like his side Patfull fought back brilliantly in the second quarter and went away to take the points.

“They were dominating early,’ Patfull said of the poor start that saw Richmond jump 25 points clear.

“We were getting smashed in the clearances and they were spreading and moving the ball pretty well.

“But ... we got on top of them, and we started to take a few of our chances, we had sprayed a few early.”

Patfull said the efforts of the Lions’ stars like Simon Black, Luke Power and Jonathan Brown had provided an edge in Saturday’s win.

“When those blokes step up and do those special things and kick those pivotal goals ... the one Browny kicked on the run was a great goal and we really needed a goal then,” Patfull said.

“Things like that go a long way to getting the result, I think.

“It gives you a bit of belief and got us on our roll in the last quarter.”

The Lions now sit in positive win-loss territory after registering their first consecutive win of 2009, but Patfull said the team was far from satisfied with its start to the season.

“We are reasonably happy to be 4-3 but if you look back at a couple of games we lost against Carlton and Collingwood – there were a couple of points in those games where we had a few chances and it could have gone either way,” he said.

“We quite easily could have been looking at 6-1. But that’s footy I guess: you’ve got to make the most of your chances.”