THE margin between the winner and loser was slight on Friday night, which is why the contrast in the moods of the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood coaches afterwards was so great.

Mick Malthouse was at his brusque best after his Magpies finished two points in the red at the Gabba. Unprompted, he queried the performance of the game's officiators and, after saying "inaccuracy" was the reason his team had lost, would not elaborate beyond saying he would speak with AFL umpires boss Jeff Geishen about "rule interpretations".

"I can say in 12 months I haven't spoken to Jeff Geishen, but I think I might ring him this week," Malthouse said.

Leigh Matthews was upbeat and expansive about how his team had managed to turn a contest it had looked destined to lose. The Lions coach commented on the "grey areas" of umpiring only after the matter was raised.

The travellers overturned Brisbane's half-time lead early in the third term and after booting five unanswered goals, amassed a 16-point advantage. At that stage, the Lions, who had travelled to Perth for a match only six days earlier, appeared to have run out of puff, and as one of their co-captains Jonathan Brown noted afterwards, they would have had a good excuse had they been overwhelmed in the late stages. Instead, Brisbane managed a revival, posting a four goal-to-one final term.

The Magpies didn't lack opportunities to score a second win in a season that is only two weeks old. Paul Medhurst booted the Pies' sole goal for the last term about 10 minutes in, but he missed two subsequent shots.

Dale Thomas also squandered a chance to convert before the Lions' Jed Adcock settled the result by snapping a late major that put his team four points to the good. "We're not the first side or the last side to lose a game by a narrow margin," Malthouse said afterwards.

"Sides rebound, we're not re-inventing the wheel … Sydney got beaten by two points last week and Adelaide got beaten (narrowly). Hello, these things happen you know, you move on."

Matthews was pleased that after a gallant opening-round loss, his team was on the board.

"It's only a couple of points, but it's a big difference if you win by two (points) or lose by two … if you're nought (wins) two (losses) after two games you've got a bit of ground to make up," he said.

"We're 1-1, so you've got a bit of momentum going forward into the next round … there wasn't much in it, but it's very valuable for us, quite obviously, that we found a way to get there."

The Lions' Brown said his team turned the tide by playing more positive football in the final term.

"It was a great effort. Leigh asked us for perseverance at three-quarter time and we got it," he said.

"Leigh asked us to really drive the ball forward in the last quarter out of the stoppages because otherwise, with that slippery ball, we were just over using it. We probably mucked around with the footy a bit too much in and around the stoppages, we needed to be a bit more forceful forward. But when we did that in the last quarter we played a lot better footy."

Magpie Tyson Goldsack had a broken nose after clashing with Anthony Corrie early in the third term. Travis Cloke injured an ankle but returned to the field and played out the game.

Josh Drummond was the Lions' only casualty. He damaged a quad muscle that his coach said would keep him sidelined for some time.