MELBOURNE has suffered its first loss of the NAB AFLW season.

The Dees welcomed the Lions to Casey Fields on Saturday morning and were unable to claim victory against the reigning premiers, the final score sitting at 5.3 (33) to 2.3 (15).

The home side was only down three for inside 50s, but struggled to capitalise forward of centre, resulting in just two goals for the match.

Speaking to media post-match, senior coach Mick Stinear gave plenty of praise to his side’s opposition and how they were able to control the game.

“It was a good, tight contest,” Stinear said.

“We started to feel it open up when we started to use the ball better, more run and carry, more creativity with the ball.

“We couldn’t win enough contests forward of centre, so we didn’t get enough time in forward half and create enough opportunities to score, so credit to them for denying us that opportunity."

The Dees were also limited in the contest, the Lions racking up 14 more clearances and 17 more contest possessions, an area of the ground the Dees were used to controlling.

Despite this strength from Brisbane, Melbourne was impressive in restricting its opposition from converting on contest, Maeve Chaplin, Tahlia Gillard and Gab Colvin all strong in defence.

“They won clearance, they won contest and outworked us at the end of the game,” Stinear said.

“We felt like we defended well, denied them opportunities to score for a lot of the day.

“But then we struggled to transition from our back-half and generate our own opportunities consistently.

“We think we have some areas to sharpen up on and put ourselves in a better position to be able to compete with the best teams in the competition.”

Prior to the Saturday game, Melbourne confirmed that star ruck Lauren Pearce was a late out with injury, adding to a number of key players set to miss games.

Despite this, Stinear was insistent that it wasn’t something that had affected the result.

“I’m really proud of the team,” Stinear said.

“Losing [Olivia] Purcell, [Tayla] Harris and Pearce in the last two or three weeks, three All Australians and high-quality players that our team loves playing with.

“It's definitely a factor, I don’t think it impacted our ability to get the job done today, there were just some key areas that Brisbane was too good at.

“We do think we have the depth on our list.”

The Dees will now turn their focus to the next test, the 2023 grand finalists North Melbourne, hosting them at Casey Fields on Sunday.

In what is a big opening three weeks for the 2024 season, Stinear said Melbourne was up to the challenge.

“It’s a great start to the season for us,” Stinear said.

“What a great way to challenge our game style, challenge our list, challenge our coaches, measure ourselves against the best in the competition.

“We’re up for it, North will bring a slightly different challenge in the way they play, we’ll be coming into every game with a. team we expect to win, next week will be no different.

“Hopefully we get the fans back against, it was a good turn out today…we’re looking forward to next week.”