BRISBANE coach Chris Fagan has a level of concern following Sunday's 11-point loss to Narrm, saying his team has "a bit of work to do" ahead of its game against bogey team Hawthorn next weekend.
For the second straight week, the Lions watched a healthy first half lead evaporate, although unlike last Sunday's draw against North Melbourne, this time they would walk away empty-handed against a rampant Demons.
LIONS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats
The visitors destroyed Brisbane all over the ground in the final term, winning the inside 50 count 21-8 and turning that into a 4.8 to 1.1 advantage on the scoreboard.
The loss drops Brisbane from first to second on the ladder and Fagan did not mince words after the match.
"The last quarter they annihilated us, really," he said.
"On entries, on scores, you name it, they got the better of us.
"We've got a bit of work to do after that.
"Things seemed to be going along quite well after the Gold Coast win, but the last couple of weeks some things have popped up we need to work on."
Narrm won the contested possessions by 18, and with white-hot skipper Max Gawn having his way in the ruck, won the critical centre clearance battle by seven.
Brisbane's tackling was also below par.
"To me, they're effort stats, and they've been down two weeks in a row now," Fagan said.
"I don't think we were tired, I can't make that excuse. We've had seven-day breaks the last few weeks.
"It just came down to effort and hunger, I think.
"We played strongly in the first three quarters, but when the whips got cracking in the last quarter, we couldn't get the ball out of our backline."
Fagan said the lack of hunger was just a reflection of one quarter and not a pattern, saying the many uncharacteristic mistakes kicking the ball inside 50 was also costly.
Next Saturday the premiers play Hawthorn, a team they haven't beaten since 2019.
"It wouldn’t matter who we were playing next week in a way, we just need to turn the last couple of weeks around," Fagan said.
"We can't sit around this week and lament about what happened tonight ... we'll move on pretty quickly to Hawthorn."
Narrm coach Simon Goodwin said the win over the premiers would give his team a lot of belief.
After starting the season 0-5, the Demons are now right back amongst the finals race, sitting a win and percentage outside the top eight with a 4-6 record.
"I'm just so proud they hung in there, played our way, kept up the fight and eventually got our results," Goodwin said.
"Tonight's a night you start to get some reward and belief but ... it's one win, still a lot of work to do to be the team we want to become."
Aside from Gawn's dominance, Clayton Oliver took another huge step forward, playing a run-with role for a second straight week.
Although opponent Lachie Neale had 30 disposals, Oliver was instrumental in the Demons' win, kicking a goal from his 23 touches and having a critical knock-on for a Kysaiah Pickett goal during the third term.
"Clayton's been brilliant in his desire to help the team," Goodwin said.
"It's real leadership. We saw tonight Clayton starting to evolve himself back to the player we all knew.
"It was clear it'd take time and we're 10 weeks in and you can see he's starting to get his game back to a high level.
"The last two weeks has given him genuine purpose. He wanted to take this up and really show he can help the team around the ball."
