Saturday's loss to Geelong by 42 points was the smallest margin between the two sides in over four years. 

A excellent first half had the Lions right in the mix at half time, before Geelong's class and experience proved too much in the second half. 

“The first half was pretty solid. We were probably a little bit unlucky to go in down at half time,” Forwards Coach Jed Adcock said.

“In the second half the class of the Cats prevailed. They play that ground really well. Their ball movement in the second half was elite and we couldn’t keep up with them.”

As Chris Fagan discussed in his post-match press conference, a five-goal run to the Cats to finish the second quarter and start the third was where the game was lost.

“There was an eight-minute patch where we lost the game. It’s lapses like that, which we haven’t seen as much this year as last year, that hurt us,” Adcock said.

“We weren’t able to adjust quick enough and stop the run.”

Dan McStay was the Lions’ best forward against Geelong, clunking three contested marks and kicking two goals. 

“[Dan] started off the season really well in front of goal. Then he got through the middle part of the year and had a bit of a slump and missed a few.”

“We all know he has been doing a bit of work behind the scenes. It’s nice to see him kicking straight again. 

“As Dan will say, it’s nice for him to be settled into the one spot. He’s had the consistency and continuity in playing forward this year.”

The Lions finished the match with four less inside 50s than the Cats, but the home side’s efficiency going inside 50 proved to be the difference.

“The connection from the Geelong players, especially to Hawkins, was elite. There wasn’t much our defenders could do at times.”

“We weren’t too bad going inside 50, we went at 45% which is the League average. They went at 55% which was the difference.” 

The Lions take on North Melbourne for the second time this season on Saturday at the Gabba.

The first encounter, in Round 11, was a tale of two halves, with the Kangaroos dominating the first half before the Lions held their own in the second despite being three men down.

“It’s been a fair turnaround [since our last game against them]. Our stats have been nice and trending the right way.” 

“We just need to make sure we don’t let them get a start like we did last time.”