THE BRISBANE Lions may have seen the final margin blow out to 32 points against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon but Lions coach Chris Fagan said it was a "fantastic day" for the club.
A massive upset loomed at half-time as the Lions went into the main break with a 32-point lead on the back of brilliant accuracy in front of goal, while the reigning premiers struggled to convert their attempts. The Bulldogs finished with 45 shots at goal from 62 inside 50s for a tally of 17.20.
The Lions led for close to 90 minutes of the contest but Dayne Zorko's goal at the seven-minute mark of the final term was his side's last for the match.
Full match coverage and statistics
Fagan said his young side wasn't able to run the game out.
"In terms of a day for our club and their development, I thought it was a fantastic day. It showed all of them that when we contest hard, we apply pressure and we do that consistently that we get a really positive result," Fagan said.
"We just weren't able to sustain it for long enough, but we're very proud of most of our effort for most of the day.
"(I'm) just disappointed it blew out in the end, because I don't think it was a true reflection of the contest."
WATCH: Chris Fagan's full post-match press conference
The coach was particularly thrilled with his side's effort considering it was against a motivated premiership outfit playing for its skipper Bob Murphy, who notched up his 300th match.
"Today's game will be a magnificent learning experience for us when we dissect the tape and look at the things that we did well and then look at the things that we can get better at," he said.
"(It's) probably the most valuable game that we've played this year. I've got no doubt it'll help us somewhere down the track to get to where we want to get to.
"We're not there yet but if we persist with that sort of approach and that attitude, we'll get there."
The Lions had 44 inside 50s for the contest, a number that disappointed Fagan.
"We would've liked to get it inside 50 a little bit more than what we did. Funnily enough, in the last quarter I think it was 16-17 (to the Dogs' advantage) on inside-50s, so we gave ourselves a look at the goals," he said.
"It will be interesting to have a look at the tape. I didn't think we used the ball that well going inside 50 and mucked up a few mistakes at critical points in the game."
The Lions are 1-4 and host Port Adelaide next Saturday.
