Cam Rayner says he and his misfiring Brisbane forward line teammates need to get back to basics to recapture their best form against Gold Coast on Sunday night.
Rayner was one of many Lions roundly criticised following last week's 54-point loss to Greater Western Sydney, with Joe Daniher, Eric Hipwood and Charlie Cameron also questioned for their effort.
Just three matches ago, Rayner played one of the best games of his career in a powerful win over Melbourne at the MCG. That night he gathered 25 disposals, and has racked up 23 (with two goals) in the subsequent fortnight.
"It's hard for me to come out and say I can play like that every week, the AFL is hard," Rayner said prior to Brisbane's main training session on Thursday morning.
"The hardest thing to find is consistency.
"The thing I want to focus on is … doing the things I can do consistently without the ball, and that's probably the thing that's let me down the last couple of weeks.
"I want to make sure I tidy that up."
Brisbane's forward line has had trouble converting its opportunities, ranked 18th for goals per inside 50 and also ranked 18th for shot at goal accuracy.
They are also one of the worst teams in the competition, 15th, for contested ball differential inside 50.
Rayner put the onus on himself to apply more defensive pressure and stand up in "moments".
"We can't shy away from the fact we've had opportunities to kick goals and missed them at important times," he said.
"In the AFL, momentum is such a big thing, and if you lose that, it can get away from you pretty quickly."
Daniher missed Thursday's session with illness, but the club is in no doubt he'll line up against the Suns.
Rayner said the Lions expected nothing out of the ordinary from their under-fire forwards.
"I know this is pretty simple, but I'm expecting them to come out and play their role and that's what we haven't been doing recently and that's why we've been a little bit below par.
"We don't expect Charlie and Eric and Joe to come out and kick five goals every week because … we can't expect that from anyone.
"It's a team game, we need to make sure we get our roles filled and if we get our roles filled as a team that should help those blokes play better up forward."
