BULLDOGS coach Rodney Eade has flagged a number of player changes after his side gave up a 30-point lead to go down to the Lions by 22 points at the Gabba on Saturday night.

Eade said Brad Johnson and Jason Akermanis will be automatic inclusions for Friday night’s clash with Adelaide at Docklands.

But he said other players will come under scrutiny after poor kicking skills and tackling pressure cost the Dogs dearly against the Lions.

“Certainly there’s some worrying signs there for maybe a bit of the team but certainly some individuals,” Eade said.

“It was across the board, it was a mixture of experienced players and some younger players as well but there will be a few blokes back next week so we’re going to have to make some changes anyway to fit those guys in.

Maybe we’ve just got to give it a jolt a bit and we’ve got to find some people who are just going to work consistently.”

Eade said the scoreline flattered the Bulldogs, who were beaten in inside fifties (72 to 39) marks (101 to 73) and disposals (382 to 341).

While he praised the likes of Brian Lake and Dale Morris for helping keep Jonathan Brown and Brendan Fevola goalless for the first half, Eade said the Lions were seeing too much of the ball due to costly turnovers.

“The dam wall was always going to break at some stage,” Eade said.

“We just weren’t able to generate some run and when we were able to do that we just turned it over.

The Lions lifted their intensity, they got confidence from that, we fumbled and mucked around and didn’t play our normal way.”

Eade said slippery conditions could explain some of the dropped marks but not the poor kicking, which was particularly disappointing after the Bulldogs booted the first goal of the third quarter to go five goals clear.

Eade said they fully expected an aggressive Lions outfit and the Bulldogs failed to match their intensity levels.

“Some people had told us that Brisbane had been setting themselves since pre-season for this game so we knew that,” Eade said.

“We knew our first six weeks especially was really tough with six-day breaks, interstate travel so we’ve just got to ride through that.”

Tom Williams was stretchered off early in the third quarter after a heavy knock to the head, coinciding with a Lions revivial.

Williams returned to the field to play a part in the final term but Eade said the incident couldn’t be blamed for triggering the Lions' nine-goal second half blitz.

“They seemed to gain momentum after that but that’s full credit to them, I don’t think it was any particular reason because Tom was off.”