Brisbane coach Chris Fagan is tempering his excitement, believing the next six weeks will be more revealing about his AFL ladder leaders.
Brisbane assumed top spot with a 36-point away win against Adelaide on Saturday night.
The Lions (eight wins, one loss) will likely slip to second by Sunday night after unbeaten Melbourne play last-placed West Coast.
"It's a good start," Fagan said of the Lions' campaign.
"That is about it, I reckon, don't want to get too excited.
"We have got some really good teams that we have got to play and we will probably find out a little bit more about ourselves over the next four to six weeks."
Brisbane's next games are against Hawthorn, GWS, Fremantle, St Kilda, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
"It's good to be 8-1 ... we can keep building our season now," Fagan said.
"Last season we were under pressure, we were 1-3 and had to fight and fight and fight to eventually finish top four.
"Now we have put ourselves into a good position."
Fagan hoped forward Dan McStay would return from an ankle injury in "a week or two" while fellow attacker Joe Daniher (shoulder) was a month from resuming.
"Hopefully, we can get all the pieces of our jigsaw puzzle together sometime over the next four to six weeks," he said.
Tall forward Eric Hipwood made his comeback from a knee reconstruction on Saturday night when the Lions booted nine goals to Adelaide's two after halftime.
Hipwood was goalless from 11 disposals but coach Fagan was encouraged.
"He was terrific given he hadn't played footy since June last year," Fagan said.
"He did an exceptional job. He had four direct score assists ... it's great to have him back in the team.
"He has done a fantastic rehab, so professional in the way he has gone about it, and he was able to run out the game."
Australian Associated Press
