No AFL tanking on Leppa’s watch for Lions

He’s spoken out in his belief that Brisbane need a priority draft pick but that doesn’t extend to tanking for the remainder of the AFL season for Lions coach Justin Leppitsch.

The Lions head into Saturday’s clash with Carlton at the Gabba knowing a loss will all but certainly condemn them to the wooden spoon.

That embarrassment does come with one upside however, with the club then earning the No.1 pick at this year’s draft.

Just last month Leppitsch made a public plea for the game to support his ailing club by granting them a priority pick.

But the Lions coach has denied he’ll be ordering his team to lose games in a bid to secure the highest possible draft pick they can.

“We look at winning. I don’t want to finish last, the team doesn’t want to finish last, we’re just here to win,” Leppitsch said.

“You look back … teams that have tanked to lose, I don’t think it’s actually helped them or helped their footy club.

“I’ll be coaching hard every week, putting our best team out every week that’s available to try and win.”

One of the Lions’ two wins this year was against the Blues back in round six.

Despite an 11-game losing streak stretching back to May, Leppitsch believes his team has shown enough in recent weeks to suggest a change of fortunes is not far off.

“If you look at how we moved the ball the past couple of weeks, particularly last week, giving ourselves an opportunity to score 100 points, I think that’s an area – if we can continue to do that – and tighten up some defence, that’s where I think we can (win),” he said.

“Obviously when you’ve beaten a team already, it gives you a bit of confidence – but it’s such a long time ago it’s a distant memory.”

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