Austin fell to the ground in agony 10 minutes into the third quarter after a tangle of legs at high speed in pursuit of a Morningside opponent.
The Lions trailed by 62 points at that stage but leveled the third term at three goals apiece after the game had been held up for five minutes while Austin was stretchered from the field.
However, with many players appearing leg-weary from early in the match, they were overrun in the final term to lose 22.17 (149) to 6.11 (47).
The Lions were jumped early by a revved up Morningside and were never really in the contest.
Ryan Harwood tried valiantly all day, kicking 2.2 from a midfield role and winning plenty of hard ball.
Bryce Retzlaff kept on leading hard up the ground despite some of his teammates’ disposal not being the best, and Pearce Hanley and Sean Yoshiura worked overtime in defence.
“We’ve had some discussions as a group about things we want to execute in the last part of the year and I thought it was a really good opportunity for our young guys to demonstrate some of those things we were going to do,” said Lions coach Craig McRae.
“We built it up a little bit for that, and there was a little bit of emotional attachment for what we wanted to achieve.
“The opposition were outstanding but we walk away from the game disappointed that we couldn’t show some things we wanted to change and make an impact on where we are going as a footy club.”
Strong-bodied Morningside midfielders Tyson Upton and Mark Rootsey dominated for long periods, youngster Ryan Holman set the game up early and the talented Damien Bonney was close to best afield.
McRae was loathe to make excuses for his side’s big loss, but hinted that there were reasons for the sluggish performance.
“You look at our guys early and they were only a quarter of a tank full,” he said. “There are reasons behind it.
“You get to halftime and the tank was empty. If you watched the game closely, so many of our guys were really spent.
“Some of our guys fought through situations where they could easily have turned their toes up a bit. So maybe I’m an optimist but I saw certain things that I challenged guys on that I liked.
“We’re making some adjustments at the footy club and today they didn’t get executed but ideally next week we make a stand as to what we stand for as a footy club.”
The Lions face Broadbeach at Giffin Park, Coorparoo at 2pm next Saturday.
The two clubs boast identical 5-7 win-loss records, with the injury-stricken Cats coming off a 106-point hiding at the hands of Southport yesterday.
SCOREBOARD
Morningside 4.6, 11.7 14.9 22.17 (149)
Brisbane Lions 1.3 2.7 5.7 6.11 (47)
GOALS - Morningside: M. Rootsey 5, S. Mugavin 4, J. Brown 2, M. Kimball 2, S. Brown 2, D. Bonney 2, K. Abey 2, A. Nash 1, J. Gough 1, T. Upton 1. Lions: C. Stiller 2, R. Harwood 2, J. Bain 1, B. McCauley 1.
BEST - Morningside: T. Upton, A. Rogers, N. Kinch, J. Lawler, D. Bonney, M.
Rootsey. Lions: R. Harwood, B. Retzlaff, P. Hanley, S. Yoshiura, N. McKeever,
T. Selwood.
