BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews was left scratching his head after his side allowed St Kilda cut a 12-goal margin to a comparatively "skinny" 46 points at the Gabba on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions steamrolled the Saints throughout terms two and three, slamming through 14 goals to their visitors’ three.
But St Kilda rallied in the final term and outscored the Lions eight goals to four during the game’s last 30 minutes.
"If I knew what the answer was we’d solve it pronto," Matthews said.
"The last 10 minutes were quite poor, whereas the first 100 or so minutes were exceptionally good.
"I’m always conscious of percentage. It’s one thing to win a game and then the next phase is to try and win by bigger margin.
"We’ve had a number of games where we’ve blown what should have been a much bigger margin by having a very poor last 10 minutes.
"Fortunately the majority of times we have been far enough in front that all it has cost us is margin. But against Geelong it cost us the game.“
While the Lions will seek answers to a final-term fadeout in which the Saints dominated the stoppages, Matthews was otherwise pleased by his side’s ability to post back-to-back wins for the first time in 2008.
The Lions kicked 21 goals, 12 from the boots of Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw – each of whom netted a bag of six.
"We won the ball well, we carried it well, we used it well and I think we were good in defence in making it hard for the opposition," Matthews said.
"We negotiated a way around their spare man down back, which we’re getting plenty of practice with. We’ve kicked 21 goals and apart from that last bit of the game when they went back to (man-on-man) we were able to use our extra man in the backline to be a really good attacking option.
"It was a good exhibition."
Once again Matthews wouldn’t be drawn into talk about the Lions being a premiership contender, but he did give a hint as to the club’s seasonal aspirations.
"We live in the moment," Matthews said.
"I’ve got the frustration of the last 10 minutes in my head, even though the 100 that went before it were good. That’s the way we live our lives.
"It’s about jockeying for positions. If you don’t win 12 games you won’t get a position. If you win 15 or 16 you can finish in the top four and get a double-chance and that’s what we’re looking to do.
"Looking that far ahead (towards a premiership), isn’t something that occupies our thinking at all."
