IT WAS a dismal night for Fremantle in Brisbane, and coach Ross Lyon was far from impressed.

The Dockers were beaten comprehensively to the tune of 57 points by the lowly Lions, and a "bitterly disappointed and really embarrassed" Lyon had his midfield in his sights.

"I thought our midfield got obliterated," Lyon said.

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"They couldn't get near them. If they won it they were stripped, or they couldn't touch it. They were 0-12 in clearances and lots of entries for [the Lions]. 

"They need to assess themselves and stand up."

Fremantle's midfield is star-studded, led by captain and Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe, Lachie Neale, David Mundy and the Hill brothers Stephen and Bradley, but Lyon said reputations counted for little.

"At the end of the day, we can shy away from it, but the midfield got obliterated. 

"We need to improve our football and get a midfield who are competitive against fierce, quick opposition. At the minute, we're not getting it done.

"That's the thing in AFL footy, you're only as good your next performance. As a coach and a player we all sit in that. Otherwise, you're just a name."

With Fremantle big man Aaron Sandilands missing the match with a hamstring injury, Lions ruckman Stefan Martin was influential in the first half when the match was up for grabs.

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Lyon said it was up to the players selected to get the job done, and it was difficult to measure the difference Sandilands could have made.

"It's really hard to compare, because you'd like to compare apples to apples and we didn't play Brisbane last week or the week before or the week before that, and Aaron didn't play in those games.

"I come out and talk about Aaron Sandilands, I'm making excuses. I'm not the coach I'd like to be and we're not the club or team we'd like to be, so we need to look at it.

"Without being difficult, it's easy to go to that, but Aaron's not going to play forever. We need to improve and play what's in front of us and the personnel that's in front of us."

The Dockers had to come off a six-day break and make one of the longest trips in AFL football to face the Lions, who were fresh off a bye.

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Lyon said it should not have been an influencing factor in the match.

"If anything it should work the other way. They should have a bit of inertia getting back into gear, and we should be recharged and ready to go.

"Tonight's performance we don't want to stand for. Clearly, internally it's not sitting very comfortably."