Disappointment turned to frustration for the Brisbane Lions after they followed last year's AFLW grand final loss with another on Saturday.
Having made the first two AFLW premiership deciders, the Lions were left to lick their wounds again when the Western Bulldogs overcame a halftime deficit of six points to prevail 4.3 (27) to 3.3 (21) at Ikon Park in front of 7,083 fans.
It followed last year's loss to Adelaide, who were also victorious by just six points.
"Last year was disappointing ... this one's frustrating because we thought we were all over them early in the game," Lions coach Craig Starcevich said.
"We didn't get a chance to capitalise on our opportunities and you've definitely got to do that against a good opposition.
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"We didn't open up the gap far enough when we had plenty of good chances to do that in the first half."
The Lions kicked the only goal of the first half and looked the better side before the Dogs kicked three goals to none in the third quarter to swing the momentum.
Even then, Jess Wuetschner kicked two goals in the final term to give her side a late chance before they were beaten by the final siren.
"They upped the ante a bit through the middle and we couldn't respond," Starcevich said.
"That was disappointing but they fight it out our crew, which is terrific. That' their trademark - they don't give up - which is great.
"We're massively proud of them ... that doesn't change. We've got a really tight group ... it's a second family to a lot of them, so they're terrific right now.
"We've told them to keep their heads up. We keep banging on the door and consistently showing up in the last game of the year."
