THERE were some fumbles, some turnovers and the odd poor decision, but new Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan was largely pleased with his team's performance in Sunday's loss to Gold Coast.

The Lions trailed by two points at half-time but were overrun by the classy Suns in the second half, eventually succumbing by four goals.

GC v BL: Full match coverage and stats

Fagan said he learned plenty about his new team and was encouraged by what he saw.

"I thought for two-and-a-half quarters we were really competitive and then we lost our balance around contested situations," he said.

"We had too many players getting in after the footy and not handling it cleanly, it'd pop up and they got us on the outside with their ball use.

"We turned some balls over trying to do (aggressive) stuff, but I'm not unhappy about that, I want to keep encouraging that. 

"There was some really good passages of ball movement today.

"I thought when we chipped it around and changed the angles, we caused some bother, but we didn't do that enough.

"We have to be a bit braver to take the game on." 

Last season the Lions were notorious for conceding 'red time' (time-on) goals, but it was different on Sunday. 

They kicked the final goal of the first quarter and the final two goals of both the second and fourth terms. 

"It's something we've talked about," Fagan said. 

"It's changing the mindset from not wanting to get beaten too much in red time, to "let's try and win red time". 

"That was one of the positives out of today." 

Fagan said was pleased with Rohan Bewick (28 disposals) and Harris Andrews, who kept Suns star Tom Lynch to one goal.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade was frustrated the treatment of his All Australian forward, who found it hard to shake Andrews close-checking defence.

"You'd certainly like your forwards, if they got wrestled a bit, to get free kicks, that'd be handy," he said. 

"What about Tom Lynch? He (Andrews) thought it was World Championship Wrestling, had him in a sleeper hold at one stage."

Harris Andrews kept Tom Lynch under wraps on Sunday. Picture: AFL Photos