The Lions reserves have been beaten 10.10 (70) - 17.15 (117) in a hard-fought and physical contest against the Gold Coast Suns at Coorparoo on Saturday

The opening minutes of the game saw the Suns slot an easy goal, but the Lions responded well by regaining possession and territory through their characteristically strong team work.

Despite a solid lead at the end of the first quarter, the Lions dropped off in the next quarter after the Suns began to showcase effective defence and good running work.

The Lions frustratingly lacked opportunities to get points as they struggled to overcome to Suns’ good defence in the second quarter.

Coach Leigh Harding found the second quarter particularly frustrating “we’ll definitely have to go over and look at that because we let a few things slide there”.

Despite trailing by 25 points at one stage, the Lions showed good communication at under-pressure times and prevented the Suns from putting more points on them.

The third quarter saw much improvement from the Lions after slotting a six-pointer in the opening minute. From here, although the Suns managed several goals, the Lions capitalised more on their increased possession by a range of seemingly difficult goals.

Nick Hayes, Nichael Close and Riley Blundell were among the better players for the Lions. 

With just a 20-point deficit going into the fourth quarter, both teams came out firing and good defence from both teams saw no points being scored for 8 minutes.

Harding said “I definitely can’t question their effort because it was there. We gave it our best shot but couldn’t produce the goods”.

The Lions will regroup this week and go on to play the Labrador Tigers next week.

LIONS GOALS - Green 2, Lisle, Pendlebury, Daye, Close, Bartlett, Newell, Blundell, Freeman

LIONS BEST - Hayes, Close, Conway, Daye, Cameron-Reeves