Brisbane's horror season is short-odds to continue when they take on the Geelong Cats at Skilled Stadium this Saturday, but according to Jonathan Brown the Lions stand united and are determined to salvage some pride.
The Lions have lost 11 of their last 12, and will face their own mission impossible when they travel south to take on the second-placed Cats out to return to winning ways after an 11-point loss to the Crows last weekend.
By comparison, last weekend the Lions suffered their sixth straight defeat, going down by a whopping 75 points to the Hawks.
Brown, though, remains adamant that the effort at training and the solidarity amongst the playing group is more than sufficient to ensure some positives can be drawn from the last few rounds of the season.
"We're certainly disappointed about our effort last weekend, that's for sure," Brown said on Tuesday.
"We're working really hard as a playing group and taking it all on board."
"We're certainly not making any outside excuses, it's fairly and squarely on the players' shoulders to help us over this trough we're in over the next six weeks."
"We're confident that we have a strong and united group."
"We haven't been making any excuses, we're just chipping away with what we need to do and we're certainly disappointed with our efforts on the weekend."
"Its very simple things that can get us back into, not contention, but certainly some winning form and get us back with our heads held high over our performances on the field."
Tactical and technical adjustments aside, the changes Brown seemed to be driving at were mental, with greater player accountability and increased mental toughness recurrent themes.
"Hopefully through this adversity all the boys will be able to get stronger as a group and find that character within and get out and do something about it," he said.
"We need to be able to have that trust and respect in each other and to know that we've all got each others back out on the field by our actions."
"We've got to be building towards something, whatever that motivation is we understand that we have to put in strong, admirable performances so that every bloke can look each other in the eye, all 22, give each other a nod and say, 'yep you did your part'," said Brown.
Brown's message of team unity in the face of adversity extended to embattled coach Michael Voss who's position has come under increasing scrutiny as his side's fallen from contenders to easy-beats.
However Brown, flanked by fellow club veterans Luke Power and Simon Black, threw his full support behind Voss in a bid to dispel rumours of player discontent with the coaching staff.
"He's done a fantastic job, Vossy," Brown declared.
"He's coached us really well over this pretty tough time and I really don't think Vossy could have done any more, the players acknowledge that," said Brown.
"It is happy campers, (the rumours) are untrue."
"Look at every side in the comp struggling and going through a rough trot, there's always something supposedly happening behind the scenes."
Although there are no clear waters ahead for the Brisbane side, Lions fans can take heart in the attitude of the side's inspirational leader, who was promising his side would travel south, determined to match it with 'one of the great sides of all time'.
"We're looking forward to going down there."
"Our record down there the last few times hasn't been great, hasn't been flash."
"At the end of the day there's no doubt that every side that goes down there, there's a certain fear attached to that, it's just about how each guy and as a team we approach that."
"We either stand back or we hit it head on - we're looking forward to a challenge."
"They're a great side, I'm not denying that, but we can't be rattled before we go down there."
"I think it's a fantastic opportunity when you get to play what I regard as one of the great sides of all time, and as players we're really relishing that opportunity."
"As an individual competitor I'm relishing that opportunity to get down there, so we'll certainly be up for the contest and looking forward to it," said Brown.