CHRIS Fagan said Brisbane would wrap its arms around Cam Rayner after the No.1 draft pick missed a golden chance to steal victory in the dying seconds against North Melbourne.

With 30 seconds left Rayner was awarded a free kick 30m out on a slight angle, but hurriedly played-on with an around-the-corner attempt and sprayed it to the right.

The Lions lost by three points.

Fagan said he was glad Rayner was the man who had the opportunity, given the same player had drilled a pressure set shot from 45m just minutes earlier.

ROOS WIN A THRILLER Full match coverage and stats

"He's upset about it, which is natural enough," Fagan said.

"I haven't spoken to him, but we'll talk about that during the week.

"It's all part of a young fella working out his routine in certain situations in the game."

Rayner was distraught post-match, but Fagan said it was all part of learning.

RAYNER'S COSTLY MISS Five talking points

"I'm sure Cam Rayner in his career at this footy club will make up for that one over and over again.

"We'll just wrap our arms around him and celebrate the fact he's at our club and know he's going to be a great player going forward."

The bigger picture for the Lions was the fact they lost their fifth game of the season by seven points or less.

WATCH Chris Fagan's full post-match media conference

Brisbane has now lost to Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and Adelaide by five points, Collingwood by seven and the Kangaroos by three.

Fagan said his team was always chasing deficits in those matches and "sometimes you run out of time".

Young midfielders Hugh McCluggage (26 disposals and three goals) and Jarrod Berry (28 and six tackles) were enormous in helping the Lions almost erase a 29-point deficit.

Fagan conceded his team was not composed and said they had rarely trained close-game scenarios.

"We've been focusing on bigger picture things than that," he said.

"Hopefully over our pre-season we'll practice some of those game scenarios and get better at it, but it hasn't been our priority this year.

"It takes time, but we'll get there."