THE BRISBANE Lions' 83-point loss to Fremantle on Saturday night reminded coach Justin Leppitsch of his first year with the Brisbane Bears in 1993.

The Lions recorded their lowest score since the merger with Fitzroy back in 1996. They also recorded just their second scoreless quarter as the Brisbane Lions.

The Bears were twice held to scoreless quarters, in round 21, 1993 and again in round 19, 1994, which were the first two years of Leppitsch's 14-year playing career in Brisbane. The Bears won just 13 games across those two seasons.

The first-year coach said the club's current predicament reminded him of those dark days.

Five talking points: Fremantle v Brisbane Lions

"I was at this club in 1993 when it wasn't in its glory days and it was very similar to this, so you have to start from somewhere," Leppitsch said.

The Lions were monstered by the Dockers. Records tumbled throughout the night and Leppitsch admitted that his side was smashed in contested possession by Fremantle's bigger bodies in the midfield.

However, the Lions' coach said he remained composed with his players in the aftermath.

"It was more of a teaching game to be honest," he said.

"A rant and rave wasn't on the cards. It was more 'what did you learn from Fremantle? What can we take out of it? What do they do well?'

"We asked some questions of our younger players and what do they need to improve on and areas we need to get better, and we just have to keep on working going forward."

The Lions missed their talisman Jonathan Brown up forward. Leppitsch said he hadn't had a formal discussion with his premiership teammate about his playing future.

"I haven't got his update," Leppitsch said.

"He wanted to go away and think about his future. He didn't even pass the concussion test. You're asking a guy to make a decision on his future when he's not even passing a concussion test.

"So he's gone away to think about that with his family. I'll meet with him and take it step by step."

Leppitsch did praise Tom Rockliff's performance. The midfielder had 44 disposals when the Lions' next best possession winner was Sam Mayes with 21.

"I think 20 of his possessions were contested so part of that is he wanted to put his head in the trough and get his hands dirty," Leppitsch said.

"That's probably it, and others didn't."