The Lions have made a rocky start to the VFL season with Ryan Lester a stand-out in a disappointing round one loss to Carlton at Ikon Park.

The veteran defender stood firm against a flood of inside 50 entries in the 42-point loss.

The Blues dominated through the middle of the ground and the 51 to 39 inside fifty differential left Lester, Jack Payne and draftee Darcy Wilmot with plenty of work to do.

Lester collected a team high 28 possessions and eight marks while Payne and Wilmot gathered 13 touches apiece and dragged down nine marks between them.

At the other end Kai Lohmann looked dangerous in a display that would have encouraged the Lions coaching panel that he has the traits to perform at AFL level when given the opportunity.

The Lions were left to rue inaccuracy in front of goal that robbed them of the chance to gain the early ascendancy.

They booted seven consecutive behinds before they scored their first goal and stand-in coach Scott Borlace said those wasted opportunities were telling.

“While it was a disappointing result, I felt if we made more of some good opportunities inside 50 and finished gettable shots on goal, it might have changed the momentum of the game,’’ he said.

“The boys seemed to then play a safer brand which played into Carlton’s hands.

“And although I thought we prepared well, the 5-day break and having a number of players coming back from injury and COVID protocols, potentially had an impact as the game went on.

“We still had some great individual contributors. Ryan Lester was our skipper on the day and led from the front, Jack Payne was solid all day and Kai Lohmann is continuing to show good signs of improvement.’’