DESPITE Lachie Neale notching an equal career-high 42 disposals, Fremantle coach Ross Lyon wasn't completely happy with the star midfielder’s game. 

Neale, who averages 32 disposals this year, had picked up 30 touches by five minutes into the third quarter of his side's 24-point loss to Gold Coast.

"You can get caught up in the numbers a bit – if I went in there [changerooms], he'd look pretty flat," Lyon said in his post-match press conference.

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"He probably could have pressured around the ball and tackled a bit more, I think he told me that.

"When you're losing, and you're having a quarter like the third and you're in the engine room – that was Hill and a couple of others, Connor Blakely – I don't think you'd walk away and go, 'We've had a ripping game'," he said.

Lyon was happy with the games of Michael Walters (four goals) and Stephen Hill, but said they didn't get the support they needed.

"When they were humming, we were humming, but as they slowed, we slowed.

"We're leaving too much to too few, we need a few to buy in.

"I think a few of our senior players were a bit quieter than we would have liked them to be, without naming them."

Despite an eight-point lead at half-time, Fremantle had only two scoring shots to Gold Coast's six in a messy third quarter, and Lyon said they needed to improve their work in the middle of the ground.

"Centre-bounce ascendancy gave them some good momentum early in the third quarter.

"Our ball use and that sort of thing were really good in the first half. Our stoppages were a bit of a worry, and that trend continued into the third quarter.

"Our transition out of defence dropped away and their pressure lifted, that was about the size of it."

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Gold Coast got eleven goals from tall forwards Tom Lynch, Sam Day and Peter Wright, something Lyon put down to turnovers rather than an undermanned defence.

"Their talls, obviously not a lot of pressure and some terrible turnovers.

"When the ball's coming back off turnovers [our defenders] are out of position a bit."

Lyon did have some praise for debutant Shane Yarran, the 27-year-old mature-aged recruit who kicked two goals.

"He had a bit of life, a few opportunities and he certainly moves like an AFL player.

"He dropped a few he shouldn't have, but that's the extra pressure."

Fremantle now turns its attention to next week's match against the Sydney Swans, and ex-skipper Matthew Pavlich's 350th game.

"What we'd like to do? We'd like to win every week, and that's been the aim since I've come through the door, that hasn’t changed.

"What we'd like to do is respect the occasion with top-level effort.

"We know we play a quality opponent, it's a big number, what it all means I'm not exactly sure, but it's a pretty significant games milestone," Lyon said.