"THE REALITY is, they bashed us up."

That was the summation from Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss after his team's 67-point loss to Essendon on Saturday afternoon at Etihad Stadium.

The Lions trailed from the word go, with the Bombers pushing out to a 26-point lead by quarter-time after booting eight goals to four.

They were beaten in contested ball (154 to 134), clearances (44 to 28) and inside 50s (69 to 43), and had 100 less possessions than their opponents.

Voss said the Bombers sliced through their defence too easily and his players failed to regain composure after coughing up the early five-goal lead.

"When you're trying to debrief a game like that, you're trying to figure out what was the actual core, let's get really nitty gritty, what was it?" Voss said.

"The reality is, they bashed us up and because of that, that creates tentative [play] and that means your composure goes out the window.

"That's what the core of it is."

In the past three weeks, the Lions have averaged 84 tackles a game, which was the second most of any side entering round six.

On Saturday, they were pushed aside by the Bombers with James Hird's men racking up 75 to the Lions' 56.

Voss said his players simply weren't up to scratch.  

"Not only did we get beaten soundly in what you call intent [and] attitude markers, they were able to keep the ball and move the footy around, which made it really tough for us to get our own pattern going," he said.

"When you're having to move the ball from the back half for most of the night, your efficiency to be able to get it from back to forward is going to be pretty tough.

"We certainly didn't do ourselves any favours when composure was called for and we certainly couldn't execute it."

Experienced Lion Daniel Merrett, who initially lined on Stewart Crameri, admitted the Essendon forward's four first-quarter goals unsettled him early in his return to defence.

"Intensity [wise], I was probably found a bit wanting early," Merrett said.

"As the game went on, I felt like I got my composure back a little bit but early I was definitely struggling.

"We were under the pump early, personally I was under the pump early, and when you get off to a bad start and you're five goals down early, it is hard to compose yourself and come back."

Defender Ash McGrath left the field in the fourth quarter with a groin injury and returned briefly before being ruled out for the afternoon.

Voss said there had been no reason to risk furthering the injury.