At 183cm and 84kg, Daniel Rich is not the Lions' most physically imposing player, but against the Suns he was clearly their most effective.
Rich single handedly kept his team within striking distance of the Suns with three first-half goals and turned provider in the second half as he burrowed under packs and hit targets with both hand and foot.
He provided the clearances that led to goals for Jed Adcock and James Polkinghorne to start the Lions' fourth quarter comeback from 19 points to eventually level the scores in the dying minutes.
The 2009 Rising Star winner now has 52 games next to his name in a Lions jumper and was as sombre as the rest of his teammates in the dressing room after the match.
"Obviously pretty disappointed with the result, it was a pretty important game for us," Rich said.
"Every loss is pretty disappointing, but it was more of an occasion against a Queensland side. The good thing is we get to play them again, and resurrect it next week at the Gabba (against Essendon), our home game."
Rich finished with 26 possessions, five clearances and four marks to go with his three goals.
He said the Lions were too reactive in the first half where they dropped behind by as much as 28 points and allowed Gold Coast to dominate the stoppages, including former Lions Jared Brennan and Michael Rischitelli.
"Leuey (Matthew Leuenberger) was rucking real well but we were a bit reactive and got dictated to and that's something to learn from," he said.
"They were good players and are always going to play well if they don't get the attention they deserve, credit to them, they played well."
Rich said he and the Lions had not lost hope though and believed a win was not far away.
"I think we have to stick to what we've been taught, trust the gameplan and back the coaches and the footy club in with what we're doing," he said.
"We're confident we're on the right track and not far away from a win.
"We've got a few more guys, including Browny, that are coming back soon, we're not far off a win.
"I urge all the members and supporters to keep coming to the games and I promise you that we'll get a win on the board soon."
