As has been the case on many occasions this season, the Brisbane Lions were competitive and threatened an upset but ultimately couldn't overcome the Sydney Swans last Saturday at the Gabba.
"It was another one we thought probably got away from us in the end. Sydney will be right up there in September," Strategy Coach Danny Daly said.
"The players' effort was outstanding. Our contested ball work was pretty good on the night bar the first quarter.
"We are encouraged by the performance but disappointed by the result.
Heavy rain before and during the game suited Sydney's style, Daly said.
"The conditions probably suited the style of play which Sydney like to have: a contested type situation."
"We handled ourselves quite well around stoppages and won clearances by +12.
"They were able to rebound a lot of their attacks from defence and we weren't able to match them in that part."
The first 15 minutes of the game was all Sydney, but after that, and especially in the last quarter, the Lions looked the better of the two sides.
"
"In the second half, we were able to beat Sydney and we were +15 in inside 50s. Especially in the last quarter, we got the ball in there repeatedly.
"We couldn't punish the opposition and we weren't able to use the ball going inside 50 smartly enough.
"Whilst we won the inside 50 battle and had more scoring shots, we just weren't able to punish them on the scoreboard.
"Our set shots also weren't great. There lies the difference, unfortunately."
The difficult conditions didn't help the Lions in front of goal last weekend, but there will be no excuses this Sunday likely under the roof at Etihad Stadium.
"The Kangaroos are in good form. I've been watching a fair bit of them the past few days and they are quite similar to Sydney."
"They like to play long down the line and get it to their three big
"We enjoy going down to Melbourne and having our Melbourne fans watch us. We are playing a good brand of football and are quite competitive so hopefully, we can provide that again on Sunday."
