Collingullie-Wagga co-coach Nick Perryman believes his side will learn a lot from their 19-point loss to Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong over the weekend.
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The Demons had gone into the game undefeated after having notched up impressive wins over Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes and Coolamon.
However after a solid opening half, the Demons failed to fire in the third and fourth terms as they allowed the Lions to kick six goals to two to run out narrow victors.
The Demons travel to Narrandera this weekend to play the Eagles and Perryman admitted his side has got a fair bit of improving to do.
"Yeah we've got heaps to work on to be honest," Perryman said.
"We are going to learn a lot from this game after we watch it again and go through it.
"We need to improve in all areas really and that was a bit of a reality check for a few people and for the team.
"But we look forward to learning from it and getting better."
After leading by eight points at halftime, the Demons then conceded the next five goals to allow the Lions to open up a 23-point lead at the 12-minute mark of the final quarter.
Perryman felt the game was lost as a result of not making the most of their opportunities when they had control of the contest.
"It was probably a bit of a game of momentum I think," he said.
"We sort of had our chances there for a period and then didn't capitalise.
"They're a good team so when they had the momentum they made us pay and it was probably the game I think."
Adding to the pain for the Demons was the fact they lost key defender Harry Radley quite early in the contest which left them a man down on the bench.
Perryman wasn't sure of the exact diagnosis of Radley's injury and said the defender would get it checked out during the week.
"He's got a sore driver, so I'm not quite sure the details of that yet," he said.
"He'll get checked out during the week and we'll see what the damage is."
It wasn't all bad news for the Demons though as Jamie Mooney made a successful return to Australian Rules in his club debut for Collingullie.
Perryman was pleased with Mooney's performance and noted that he'd only improve with every game he played.
"I thought Jamie was good," he said.
"We threw him out there today and with Harry going down early he had to play the majority of the game.
"I thought he did some really good things and he's only going to get better, we look forward to seeing what he can do in the next few weeks."
Perryman also thought Ryan Collins, James Pope and Tom Byrnes were among the Demons best in their loss to the Lions.