Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge accepts his team has all but run out of second chances in their quest to make the AFL finals.
A late fightback at the Gabba on Friday night wasn't enough for his desperate Dogs to get over the line against Brisbane as the Lions secured a 10-point win.
That defeat -- the Bulldogs' eighth in nine matches against teams above them on the ladder this season -- leaves Beveridge's team facing the prospect of being two games outside the eight by the end of the weekend.
The run of outs against higher-level opposition is down to a "broad" range of factors, according to Beveridge, but defensive application is high on his list of areas to improve.
"We are encouraged by the boys' application and their focus on the task at hand," Beveridge said.
"I could go into a whole series of things. Go through personnel. The variables in the game.
"But one of the things is you need your group to be totally committed to certain aspects of the defensive contests and stoppage phases. You can't do that inconsistently against the better sides, and we've done it inconsistently against the better sides."
The Bulldogs don't leave Melbourne for the final five weeks of the season and face Essendon, GWS, Melbourne, West Coast and Fremantle.
"Ultimately, we can't get too far ahead," Beveridge said. "We've just got to play three below us and two above us and you'd have to say we'd need to win them all, almost."
The Lions defeat was accompanied by ankle injuries to Laitham Vandermeer -- who was subbed out of the match at three-quarter time -- and James O'Donnell, but Beveridge was confident they should be fit to face the Bombers next weekend.