Brisbane Lions Strategy Coach Danny Daly says the team’s performance against the Melbourne Demons on Sunday indicates the team has the potential to mix it with the best in the competition.

The Lions came back from a 32 point deficit in the final quarter, to be within seven points with eight minutes remaining.

“I think with about three or four minutes to go we were about seven points down and we had a couple of opportunities going inside 50 that we just didn’t take,” Daly said. 

“But hopefully for our supporters and members and everyone at the Club, they saw a good brand of footy that we’re playing and we’re on the right track against a side that will likely play finals in a couple of weeks.”

The Lions have come close to league heavyweights in the last few rounds, including the Demons and defending premiers the Western Bulldogs. 

Daly believes the young sides’ inexperience has cost them at times.

“We’re able to match it with those teams for a fair bit of the afternoon, probably just need to work on a little bit of our composure with the ball at times," Daly said.

Against good sides they can punish you if you turn the footy over.”

Captain Dayne Beams was one Lions player that was never rattled on Sunday afternoon at the MCG. 

He delivered yet another inspirational performance, despite suffering a head clash early in the game. His three goals and 33 disposals kept the Lions in the hunt for victory.

“He’s probably right up there with the best players in the competition. Because we’re up here in Brisbane he probably doesn’t get the kudos he deserves,” Daly said.

Daly says Josh Walker was just behind him in effort after kicking an important goal and taking a game-high five contested marks.  

Walker has gone from strength to strength since his return to Senior level.

“To Josh’s credit he was sent back to NEAFL earlier in the year. I think him and Fages had a bit of a chat about what he needed to improve on,” Daly said. 

“His last three or four weeks have been really promising and it gives us something to look forward to next year.”

Both Beams and Walker will be determined to finish their season on a high on Saturday afternoon at the Gabba when they meet North Melbourne.

“I think it’s been mentioned a few times, the season’s probably come to an end too early. We don’t want to go out as losers, we want to go out as winners,” Daly said. 

The Lions are desperate to hand the wooden spoon to the Kangaroos, a side they haven’t met since Round 2, 2016.

“They’re at a stage of developing again as a young group and they’ve played some pretty good footy although they’ve only won five games. They’ve been quite competitive throughout the year. I think they’ve lost four or five games under 10 points,” Daly said. 

This week's fan question asked Daly about how the coaching staff plan to improve the team's endurance to push top teams in the future. 

“A lot of the endurance stuff comes over the pre-season… Sometimes they take two, three, four years to really develop in terms of getting to the elite level,” Daly said. 

“It’s just as many miles as we can get into their legs.  Get them used to the heat up here and you know run, run, run, run.”

If you’ve got a question you would like answered on the Coaches Wrap, head over to our Twitter every Monday night at 7.30pm and use the hashtag #AskLionsCoach.