THE Brisbane Lions have shored up their finals position, if not their credentials, heaping further misery on West Coast's wretched season to run out easy, though not always convincing, winners against mediocre opposition at the Gabba last night.

The Lions led by nine goals late in the third quarter, but again failed to bury their opponents, finishing 46-point winners. The Lions' tendency to ease to the finish line is becoming a trend that will concern coach Leigh Matthews, who will be counting every percentage point as the finals approach.

But the Lions were always in control of the match, doing mostly as they pleased in between some very scrappy football. Jonathan Brown, Daniel Bradshaw and ruckman Jamie Charman finished with 10 goals between them, and the home side was well served by champion midfielders Luke Power and Simon Black.

They were also buoyed by an outstanding debut from the eccentrically named Bradd Dalziell, who not only brought his own football to the game — he finished with 32 possessions to steal Docker Paul Hasleby's record for most possessions on debut — but also mostly used it effectively to shade some senior teammates.

For the Eagles, there was again only one real winner — Dean Cox. The big man was again the dominant player on the ground, finishing with 36 possessions after sitting out most of the last quarter.

He had already accumulated 22 possessions and seven clearances to half-time, dwarfing his teammates in stature and output, but he also conceded two goals to opponent Charman during a 15-minute Lions burst that buried the Eagles.

Until midway through the second quarter, the Eagles had stayed in touch mainly through free kicks, which delivered three of their first five goals. When Mark LeCras buttered up a missed set shot with a successful snap midway through the second quarter, the Eagles trailed by just five points.

But five Lions' goals followed to blow the margin out to 35 and firmly establish the home team's superiority.

Adam Selwood gave away a 50-metre penalty when he unwisely pushed Brown's head into the turf after pushing him in the back, Bradshaw sharked another from a boundary throw-in and Charman bullocked through an unlikely pair.

Not that the Eagles had ever really threatened to that point.

As good as Cox was, he couldn't carry the Eagles on his own. Premiership player Andrew Embley didn't do enough damage with his possessions.

After skating away to a nine-goal lead, the Lions did what they have done on regular occasions this season when, on the verge of burying mediocre opposition, they went to sleep.

Three consecutive Eagles goals late in the third quarter never promised a genuine comeback, but it took some momentum from the home team.

The Lions lifted enough to put the game beyond question with goals to smalls Ash McGrath and Anthony Corrie, but they did little more than cruise thereafter.

BRISBANE LIONS 5.4 11.5 14.7 17.11 (113)
WEST COAST 3.3 5.6 8.10 9.13 (67)

GOALS Brisbane Lions: Bradshaw 4, Brown 3, Charman 3, Johnstone 2, Corrie 2, Drummond, Clark, McGrath. West Coast: Lynch 2, LeCras 2, Hansen 2, McNamara, Wirrpanda, McKinley.

BEST Brisbane Lions: Drummond, Dalziell, Black, Charman, Corrie. West Coast: Cox, Fletcher, Staker, Embley.

INJURIES West Coast: Glass (quad).

UMPIRES Nicholls, Ellis, Mollison.

CROWD 27,784 at the Gabba.

THE UPSHOT The Lions should make the finals, but have proved very little with this convincing but scrappy win against poor opposition, who will complete one of the AFL's steepest falls from power to the bottom of the ladder should Melbourne win over Fremantle today.

TALKING POINT Dean Cox continues to do his best impression of Chris Judd in a ruckman's body, amassing an extraordinary 36 possessions to go with his 27 hitouts

HOT AND COLD For hot, see Dean Cox. His teammates, conversely, are in the coldest winter most of them will ever know.