Chris Fagan is just trying to remain calm, "somehow", as his Brisbane Lions continue their unlikely climb back towards the AFL's top eight.
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At 2-5 and their injury toll mounting, the beaten 2023 grand finalists looked set for a quiet September.
But Fagan's men have won seven and drawn one of their last nine games to now sit seventh, just win one outside the top four.
Two-time Brownlow Medal winner Lachie Neale has been at the centre of it, at his barnstorming best again on Sunday with 35 disposals, 10 clearances and three goals in a tense 11-point defeat of Adelaide.
The coach mused of their predicament following the tense win, smiling through gritted teeth when recalling a one-point, first-round loss to Carlton that started it all.
"I can't answer that question really," he said of the side's turnaround that's helping them win games despite not being at their best.
"It's a hard one to know, because I felt there were some games earlier in the year we should have won.
"We'd be somewhere in the top four if we'd won that game (against the Blues) ... woulda, coulda, shoulda."
Sydney's dominance in the first half of the season has helped congest the ladder to historic levels, although the Swans have now lost their last two games by one and two points respectively in the latest twist to the tale.
"You have to hold your nerve I think," Fagan said.
"It's just one of those years, you can't get too despondent when you lose, you just have to keep forging forward and understand what the competition is like.
"Just stay calm, somehow."
The Lions head west to face the battling Eagles this Sunday, before returning home to the Gabba to meet the Swans the following week.
Fagan will focus on improving the side's team defence, unhappy with the ease at which the Crows moved the ball from their back half.
"I feel like defensively we've dropped away a little bit but offensively we've picked up. It's about finding that balance because you don't want to not score, either," he said.
"We want to get it right as soon as we can, and it has been good previously.
"The early part of the year it was damn good.
"It's just one of those things you need to chip away at. Sometimes in the middle of season those things can drop away, but then they'll come back."
Australian Associated Press
