ONE of the bright lights in Melbourne’s disappointing trip north to the Gabba on Saturday night was the form of midfielder Brock McLean.

Describing his past three weeks as ‘crap’, the straight talking 21-year-old was back to his best against the Lions, racking up 31 possessions and capping it off with a final quarter goal.

While Daniel Ward, Nathan Brown and Paul Wheatley also got plenty of the ball, McLean’s toughness shone like a beacon in the 44-point loss.

With a glut of Melbourne’s most experienced players out through injury, including David Neitz, Adem Yze and Cameron Bruce, McLean said it was easy to try to do too much – a trap he had fallen into recently.

 “As soon as you try and take on more responsibility or think you have to do this, this and this, you broaden your focus and that’s when you don’t play well. That’s what I find anyway,” he said.

“Probably the mistake I’ve made in the last two or three weeks is broadening my focus, whereas this week I narrowed my focus and looked at tackling and getting the footy and that’s it.

“The best way to lead is through your actions.

“You can say things but if you don’t put your head over the footy and do things like that it’s going to send a bad message to the group.”

With over 50 games to his name, McLean worked tirelessly against a Lions’ midfield that was well served the likes of Nigel Lappin and Luke Power.

The Demon said he was taking no solace from the fact honours were shared for the final three quarters. Unfortunately for Melbourne, the Lions had established a match-winning 35-point break after the first term.

He said there was still plenty to learn for the Dees as a group, with discipline one of its major problems.

Aaron Davey gave away a 50m penalty in the first quarter which indirectly led to a goal, while a late hit in the second quarter also gave Jared Brennan a downfield free which resulted in Brisbane’s only second-term major.

“We are under no illusions, we got smashed tonight. We went well after quarter time, but it’s a four quarter game and we got toweled up,” McLean said.

“After quarter time we thought we got back into the game, but for a 10-minute period in the third quarter, where we did some stupid, undisciplined acts and they got three or four quick goals.

“You can’t do that in footy these days. There’s no point arguing with the umpire because they’re not going to change their mind and you’re just letting your teammates down and we have to address that.

“If you are angry, just walk away or take it out on a strong tackle or something like that.

It can be frustrating but you have to think of the team first.

“It can be the difference between a good game or a bad game or a close win or close loss.”