WEST Coast coach John Worsfold described his team's performance as "acceptable", despite losing to the Brisbane Lions by 46 points at the Gabba on Saturday night.

Following last week's humiliating 77-point drubbing at the hands of Richmond at Subiaco, Worsfold said the Eagles were simply out to give it their best shot and restore some pride.

And besides a 10-minute period at the end of the second term, where Brisbane slammed on five unanswered goals to blow the game open, the premiership coach thought his team achieved that.

"I saw a fair bit of improvement tonight," he said after the match.

"I thought last week we really let ourselves down, everyone's talked about that. We let ourselves down, our club down and our supporters down with our effort last week. It was well below what was acceptable.

"Tonight the effort was acceptable but there's a lot of areas for improvement in physical maturity, to lay tackles, the ability to hold your own in clinches and use of the ball, decision-making under pressure, all those things are going to come together for the group."

Worsfold said he accepted that, with the number of young players in the squad, the Eagles would be susceptible to down periods during a match.

After trailing by 52 points midway through the third quarter, the visitors bounced back with three straight goals to give themselves a sniff at the final change.

But the Lions steadied to run out 17.11 (113) to 9.13 (67) winners.

Worsfold said he was pleased with the play of young defenders Eric Mackenzie, who did a solid job in keeping Daniel Bradshaw to four goals, and Beau Wilkes.

He also made mention of midfielder Jamie McNamara, who watched Brownlow Medallist Simon Black for much of the night.

"That's just a great learning curve," Worsfold said.

"He's had a game on Nick Stevens earlier this year, so he's nowhere near their physical maturity and he's learning how much further he has to push himself to get up to that, and as a 19-year-old it's exciting for him."

But the undoubted West Coast star was ruckman Dean Cox, who had 38 possessions and 27 hit-outs in a gripping duel with Lion Jamie Charman.

Worsfold said he was not surprised at the play of his blue chip big man.

"You don't ever put expectations or limits on players, especially very good players because they can continue to surprise you," he said.

"I think it reinforces the quality when people say he's one of the best ruckmen or players in the game."

Darren Glass played on despite suffering a slight quad strain in the first quarter.