CHRIS Fagan lamented squandered first-half opportunities and some indifferent form from his mid-tier players in the wake of Saturday night's 80-point loss to Adelaide.

The Lions led by three points at the first change, but were over-run thereafter, conceding 18 goals to four.

But, as Lions coach Fagan pointed out, the game should have been much closer for longer, as his team missed a number of gettable shots at goal in the first and second quarters.

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There was Jake Barrett's right foot snap from close range, Lewy Taylor's running left foot snap, Michael Close's set shot from 30m and Tom Bell's hurried effort from the top of the goalsquare to name a few.

At the other end Tom Lynch and Eddie Betts were converting seemingly impossible shots.

"Had we taken our chances in the first half, there would have been a fair bit more pressure on them at half-time than what there was," Fagan said.

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"We missed four or five easy shots in that second quarter … if you kick them, the ball goes back to the middle and it's a whole new ball game.

"There's no easy formula unfortunately, we've just got to keep working away and get better."

Captain Dayne Beams was superb in his first game back after two weeks out with a quad injury, collecting 40 disposals and winning 11 clearances.

With Daniel Rich (29 touches) continuing his strong season, and Dayne Zorko (26 and two goals) also playing well, the experienced Lions could hold their heads up.

But it was the next tier that irked Fagan.

Five talking points: Brisbane Lions v Adelaide

"Our young blokes get a bit tired, and sometimes the guys in the middle of our list don't put in enough effort for the number of games they've played, and that's disappointing," he said.

"There was some good things in the first half, we were positive on contested possessions, the clearances were about equal, our pressure and tackling was better than theirs.

"I was really disappointed in the third quarters where we dropped away in contested possessions and clearances and the whole thing dropped away."

Fagan confirmed Claye Beams suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter, which prevented him from returning to the field.