Steve Symonds said reigning premiers Brisbane played "smarter footy" in a howling gale at Maroochydore on Saturday to hand Collingwood a 24-point loss.

"When we were looking at the draw we knew these matches against Freo (round four) and Brisbane were going to be pretty tough games for us," Symonds said post-match.

"We could see they would be right up there at the pointy end... at the moment we are a pace behind those teams.

"We think by the end of the season we can close that gap and that's what our aim is.

"It was a really windy day and I thought we didn't handle the conditions very well in the second quarter when we tried to transfer the ball.

"When Brisbane were going into the breeze they handled it much better than we did, they kept the ball low and controlled it."

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A dominant second quarter put the Lions 20 points ahead at half time, a margin the Pies never looked like closing.

"We have a lot of work to do - no doubt about that," Symonds said.

"There were some good signs (compared to round four), we looked more energised and like we were getting more system back into the game.

"We would love to have Brazzy (Ash Brazill) and Bri (Davey) playing for us and having two All Australian standard players out of the team is certainly hurting.

"Amelia Velardo had an opportunity again today and I think she showed some good glimpses.

"(Lauren) Butler, (Jordyn) Allen and Ruby (Schleicher) are all progressing in their form and development.

"We are trying to fix that midfield hole and we have been reluctant to play Chloe Molloy in the middle because she's carried a niggle the last couple of weeks.

"I think once she went into the middle today we started to get the mix a little better - we had more drive forward."