Matthews was measured in his response to the flat performance of his side and refused to point the finger of blame individually, but he certainly didn’t pull any punches in his overall assessment of the match.
“They creamed us. That was the first time this year, I would have thought, that we got overwhelmed, and today we got overwhelmed,” Matthews said.
“They beat us at the things we’re good at; they out-muscled us and out-ran us and were better with the ball in their hands, so it didn’t leave a lot left for us to hang our hats on today in the one-on-one contests.
“They were really impressive today, I don’t know what we brought to the ground, but that aside they made us look pretty poor and we haven’t been going too bad. They out-muscled us in close and out-ran us out wide, so that’s pretty much the hallmark of a good team.”
The Lions have made good progress over the last month, with four straight victories leading to top-four aspirations, but Matthews wasn’t thinking in terms of ladder positions after the match.
“All you do at the moment is try and get your win-loss ratio as high as you can and therefore every week you play is a chance to take a step forward or a step back … today was a step back,” he said.
The highly-anticipated match never reached any great heights as a contest, and certainly didn’t live up to its match of the round billing.
Matthews was unsure whether the prospect of an encounter against in-form opposition at the MCG, with the associated media attention, had played a part in the performance.
“I don’t think we as a team handled the pressure of it all; the pressure of the opposition, the pressure of the occasion -- whatever, we just didn’t,” he said.
“The fact was we weren’t allowed to play and do anything with any freedom, and that’s a credit to the Bulldogs who stop you from actually getting time and space.
Bulldog midfielder Adam Cooney came in for special praise for Matthews after he torched the Lions with 37 possessions and two goals, but it was the absence of Darren Bradshaw through hamstring tightness that seemed to cruel the Lions chances of kicking a winning score.
“Braddy wasn’t there so you certainly don’t know what he would have done if he was there," said Matthews, "but certainly Jonathan was really the only down there that really looked like getting on the end of it. It was a bit of a one-man band in there.
“[But] we know what happened today; you lick your wounds … and Monday morning we’re into next week and the Crows.”
