THE BRISBANE Lions remain open to targeting free agent talls to bolster their young spine after being dominated by Essendon's big men in Sunday's 58-point loss at Etihad Stadium.

The Bombers had only three more inside 50s for the match, but their bookends were the difference, with Joe Daniher kicking a career-best six goals and defender Michael Hurley continuing his All Australian form.

Young Lions Justin Clarke and Darcy Gardiner struggled on Daniher, while forward Liam Dawson kicked one goal in his debut and had three possessions before he was substituted in the third quarter. 

Daniel McStay and ruckman Matthew Leuenberger played forward and shared 12 possessions, with 26-year-old Leuenberger failing to take a single mark.

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With a lengthy injury list that includes key position players Daniel Merrett (hamstring) and Michael Close (knee), Leppitsch admitted his young talls were feeling the pinch.   

"I guess a more experienced player might help that," he said post-match.

"I think Darcy had a few issues in the third quarter, but that's a young key defender.  

"If Daniel Merrett was back that probably steadies the ship a little bit.

"A lot of their defenders … were their highest possession-getters, so they won a bit of the ball and beat us on turnover."

After his team notched back-to-back wins in rounds six and seven, Leppitsch refused to use fatigue as an excuse for Sunday's loss.

The Lions held their own in an exciting first quarter, but couldn't keep touch with the Bombers, who beat them at their own run-and-gun style.

In the game breaking third quarter, they conceded 7.4 to 2.0 despite losing the inside 50s by a margin of just three.

"(When you concede) 14 inside 50s for 11 scores, you don't get the ball back to start any offensive chains," Leppitsch said. 

"There were certainly things in our control we could have fixed.

"I don't think we went away from our style, we just couldn't get the ball out of our defensive 50. That was really it."