Cats midfielder, Mathew Stokes, again reached his career best of 31 disposals on Sunday, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to out run the Lions in the last 10 seconds of the match.

Halfway through the third quarter the Cats had secured a lead of 52 points, which was left to plummet in the fourth.  

Stokes said Sunday's performance was unacceptable and everyone on the field was held accountable for the defeat.

"I think every player who played (on Sunday) has to take responsibility for it and I think we will. The good thing about our group is we win together but we also lose together,” Stokes told News Limited.

"We don't point at each other and say, 'It's your fault, it's his fault, it's this area's fault'. It's a team loss, but it was a really bad loss.

"We got overrun by a team with a lot of enthusiasm and we didn't stand up when we needed to."

Stokes admitted the Cats made poor decisions on numerous occasions and let the contest slip through their fingers.

"I think there were periods in the game where we could have slowed the game down a lot," Stokes said.

"We made some really poor decisions out there, as a group, not individually…

"To lose to a team not in the eight, in a game we're expected to win, when you're up by that many points at halftime and come away with a loss, is extremely hard to take and disappointing."