BELIEF in its ability to match it with the competition's best teams was one of the major positives to come from Brisbane's 2018 season, coach Chris Fagan says.

The Lions have made plenty of improvement throughout the season, but finished their 2018 campaign with a 26-point loss to West Coast at the Gabba.

Up against an Eagles team fighting to secure second spot on the ladder, Brisbane started brightly and but couldn’t arrest West Coast's momentum when the visitors scored six straight goals, including four unanswered majors in the second quarter.

The Lions couldn't recover from the 35-point half-time deficit despite outscoring the Eagles in the second half, but speaking after the game Fagan said those lapses from his Brisbane side were becoming less frequent.

"I think the thing that has come out of this year though is that our players now believe they can compete against the better sides," he said.

"We used to get beaten in long patches of games last year, not short patches, and we would statistically, often, be beaten pretty comprehensively even though the scoreboard didn’t always show that last year.

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"This year, in so many games – today is an example of that – we had enough of the ball.

"So, they're all good signs. We just need to … batten down the hatches a little more when opposition teams get run-ons."

Fagan said he was pleased with his side's effort to win the second half, given the Eagles were fighting for a home final while the Lions had no such motivation.

"In a sense I was really proud that our players fought it out, that they were able to win the second half, because sometimes when you're that team and there's nothing there for you to play for, you can give up and get steamrolled by the opposition," he said.

"I think West Coast were probably hoping that they could steamroll us so they could get an easier run in the finals, but I thought our guys showed great character.

"If you look at a lot of the statistical areas again we had more of the ball.

"We didn't win the inside 50ms which is interesting, it just shows you we overused it a bit.

"But there was some things to like, more tackles, (we) won the pressure battle, contested possession, they had a big second quarter and after that it was pretty good, so some positive signs."

With the Lions' season over for 2018, Fagan said he would highlight the team's improvement across the season to the players as they headed off for their holidays.

"I think the challenge is don't take for granted that improvement though, we've got to go again," he said.