The Lions have focused on freshening up for the final leg of the season after being forced to grind their way to a narrow win over North Melbourne in round 12.

A young and energetic North side threw everything they had at the Lions and Chris Fagan and his coaching staff were pleased the boys were able to withstand the challenge and walk away with the four points.

After reviewing the one point win strategy coach Danny Daly says it was clear the entire footy department had been a bit down on energy at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

The Lions played rounds 8 to 12 over just twenty days and although the break between the round 11 win 0ver the Bulldogs and the victory against the Roos was seven days, the clump of four games in the previous 13 days may have been a factor.

He said it was already noticeable this week that there was a renewed spark around the group.

“I think everyone mentally was a little bit fatigued,’’ he said.

“I think physically our players were pretty good but just mentally it has probably taken them a little bit more time to get back to normal.

“They seemed to be a bit more up and about today than they were last week.’’

Daly said it wasn’t just the players who had been a bit “flat” and the coach noticed it early in the game.

“Even as a coaching group I think we were a bit flat last week and it certainly showed in the first half and Fages had to give them a bit of a rev-up at half time about their energy levels,’’ he said.

“It is one of those things, it is uncharted territory this year and even though our players got a bit of a break mentally they probably weren’t as switched on like we’d hope they’d be.’’

Games between the Lions and Kangaroos are always tough affairs and no one at the Club was surprised Saturday’s match was so tough.

Daly said the Roos’ were a strong contested side and it was pleasing the Lions were able to dig in and carve out the win.

“It was a tough old grind for the players,’’ he said.

“We always knew North were going to come out cracking the whip a bit as they’d been put under a fair bit of pressure from their coach after their last game and during the week, so we always knew they would have a crack.

“And the one thing about North is they have bene a pretty good contested ball and clearance side and they showed that on the weekend.

“So it was good for our boys to be able to grind a win out and get a result.

“It probably wasn’t how we expected it to play out, but it was good to get the four points.’’