BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews admits to experiencing mixed emotions as he watched his side lose to the undefeated Hawthorn by 12 points at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The positive was that the Lions had again pushed a genuine contender for the entire four quarters.

But the overwhelming disappointment for Matthews was the knowledge that his side is capable of better - and could just as easily have been celebrating a third win of the season.

"The fact we were able to push the undefeated ladder leaders and have not that many of our players play up to what they are capable gives us hope," Matthews said.

"But it’s disappointing. We had a lot of players who I wouldn’t have said played a great game tonight.

"And when we do our club champion votes, there will be a lot of players who will rate well below what they are capable of."

Matthews was also disappointed with some of the Lions’ decision-making on the night.

Final statistics 'credited' the Lions with 17 clanger-kicks, compared with Hawthorn’s tally of three.

"They finished much better and that's a lesson for us," Matthews said.

"Composure with ball in hands enables you to make better decisions and then it’s a matter of skills execution.

"That’s really what ability is. It’s more about decision making than execution, to be honest."

The Lions have a seven-and-a-half day break headed into Sunday afternoon’s home encounter with Melbourne, but Matthews is not overly optimistic of veteran midfielder Nigel Lappin being fit to play.

Lappin was a late withdrawal prior to the Hawthorn match, courtesy of a troublesome Achilles.

"He had Achilles tendon soreness and although he did most of training he wasn’t quite right," Matthews said.

"What means for the next few weeks, we’re not quite sure – it’s not normally the kind of thing that heals overnight.

Matthews declined to comment on the report of Jonathan Brown for charging Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell.

"I’ll plead the fifth amendment," he said.