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Harry McKay has booted six goals but it wasn't enough as Carlton lost to a wounded Brisbane by 18 points in a physical AFL clash.
Coach Chris Fagan has lauded Brisbane's resilience after they pushed through a plethora of injury concerns to beat a gritty Carlton by 18 points in their AFL clash at Marvel Stadium.
The Lions lost Darcy Gardiner to concussion in the first term (substituted for Tom Berry) while Lachie Neale (ankle), Mitch Robinson (eye), Dan McStay (head knock) and Harris Andrews (knock) all had treatment during Saturday night's match.
Despite the carnage, the Lions shrugged off Harry McKay's six-goal haul for Carlton - and their own wastefulness - to prevail 15.13 (103) to 12.13 (85).
"It was a really brave effort by our boys because there's no doubt Carlton came to play today," Fagan said.
"They'd been put under the heat all week - for whatever reason I'm not sure of because I think they're going quite well in terms of their development.
"It's not their fault that the club's struggled for the last 20 years. I don't think, it's sort of where they're at.
"They're a pretty good footy side and had a real crack today and we had to play right to the end to win it.
"I was really proud of our players and the way that they went about it and the way they stood up under pressure."
Neale went down holding his ankle late in the first quarter after getting it caught underneath his body, and looked proppy but ran out the game.
The Brownlow Medallist could be cited for making contact with umpire Matthew Nicholls when he touched the official on the arm to get his attention after having his eyebrow split open in the second quarter.
"I felt the blood and I thought he was about to throw it (the ball) up - I didn't even realise that I did that so there you go," Neale told Fox Footy post-match.
"But I was just trying to get his attention to get off the ground."
After trailing early, Brisbane seized control but took just a 26-point lead into half-time - leaving the door ajar, and McKay almost busted it down.
The key forward booted three third-quarter goals to help Carlton cut the deficit to seven points.
But the wasteful Blues were unable to maintain the rage.
Brisbane nudged the three-quarter time margin out to 25 points, then kept Carlton at arm's length, leaving coach David Teague to lament the Blues' failure to connect going forward, erratic conversion and poor defending of Brisbane's inside-50s.
"If we want to compete against these good teams, we've got to be better at those and until we do that we're going to find it hard," he said.
"Now the frustrating thing for our fans (is) we're in these games, we're showing glimpses of it but you need to do it for 120 minutes and that's our challenge as a footy club."
