Getting first use of the ball has long been identified by the Brisbane Lions’ coaching staff as a key area for team improvement, with Senior Coach Michael Voss recently stressing that matches are often won or lost at stoppages.

But the problem seems to have persisted for the Lions who have won the clearance count against their opposition just once in their past eight outings.

Ironically, that one occasion came back in Round 18 when the team suffered its biggest defeat of the season at the hands of West Coast at Patersons Stadium.

The disparity in clearances was evident again during last Saturday’s 11-point win over Port Adelaide - with the Power dominating the clearance count 54-40.

In particular, there was a stage midway through the first quarter when Port Adelaide booted five goals in five minutes as a direct result of their ability to win centre clearances.

While the Lions were still able to come away from Adelaide with the four points, Assistant Coach Shane Woewodin told LIONS TV that centre clearance work would be high on the agenda at training this week.

“It wasn’t just inside the centre circle itself - it’s also outside of the centre square where we need to do some work as well,” Woewodin said as part of the LIONS TV’s Vero Coaches Wrap on Tuesday.

“The centre square is an integral part of the game these days - we certainly weren’t very good in that area on the weekend and we’ll continue to train it this week.”

Jack Redden currently leads the Club in total clearances with 109, while Tom Rockliff (90), Daniel Rich (82), Ben Hudson (80) and Simon Black (76) round out a pretty clear-cut top five.

See the full lits of Lions player stats for Season 2012 

LIONS CLEARANCE STATS (ROUND BY ROUND)

Round 22 v Port Adelaide - Lost 54-40
Round 21 v Adelaide - Lost 34-33
Round 20 v Carlton - Lost 32-31
Round 19 v Richmond - Lost 51-37
Round 18 v West Coast - Won 56-39
Round 17 v Gold Coast - Lost 43-22
Round 16 v St Kilda - Lost 47-35
Round 15 v Sydney - Lost 41-31
Round 14 v Melbourne - Won 35-34
Round 13 v Western Bulldogs - Lost 39-35
Round 12 v Hawthorn - Won 41-39
Round 10 v West Coast - Won 45-44
Round 9 v North Melbourne - Lost 50-31
Round 8 v GWS - Drew 33-33
Round 7 v Collingwood - Lost 41-30
Round 6 v Essendon - Lost 44-28
Round 5 v Geelong - Won 45-44
Round 4 v Gold Coast - Won 45-41
Round 3 v Fremantle - Lost 41-38
Round 2 v Carlton - Lost 47-37
Round 1 v Melbourne - Won 46-34