The Lions are battered, bruised and bewildered. And that's only the fans.

Not enough beds in Melbourne's hotels meant a large number of travelling supporters not on the official tours had to rough it after the match on Saturday night.

Many of them ended up at the Crown Casino, a dazzling city-sized monument to crass Donald Trump-inspired, gold-plated tackiness on the banks of the Yarra River.

The casino has two virtues. It is warm and it is open 24 hours. Three, if you count the fact that it provides somewhere to contain Aussie Rules fans all in one place.

Some Lions followers gambled at the card tables, others fed dollars into the slot machines or "pokies" as the Aussies call them.

Most, however, just wandered around in a drink-induced daze, weary and woeful and with nowhere to sleep.

Gold Rush

Lions fans may be jaded and down-hearted, but at least they have paid good money to feel grumpy.

Fearing they would be out-sung and out-screamed by the Barmy Army as they were in Brisbane, the ARU spent �30,000 on hats, scarves and flags which they handed out to Wallabies fans outside the Colonial Stadium.

The idea was to create a "Gold Rush" - a sea of gold and green with which to greet the Australian players as they ran out for the kick-off.

Not an original concept, though, since New Zealand created a "Blackout" for a Tri-Nations match against Australia a couple of years ago.

Nor did it find favour with Lions fans after the Test. Walking dispiritedly away from the stadium one Lions fan was taunted by a group of Aussies.

"Look, mate," he said as he spun around.

"We may have lost and we may have a crap cricket team. But at least we pay our own way and buy our own gear and don't have to rely on bribes to go out and support like you do."

Fair Dinkum.

Surf-less Will

The Lions are back in Sydney at their beach-side hotel in Manly where the drizzle has set in, but so has some excellent surf.

A goup of players, including Neil Jenkins and Martin Johnson, went for an impromptu surfing session to blow away the Monday morning blues, but the management ordered Will Greenwood to stay behind.

"With your injury record, Greenwood, you're liable to lose a leg to a shark bite," said one coach.

Lenihan livid

Donal Lenihan also has a nasty bite. The Lions team manager was less than impressed by the decision of citing official David Gray not to punish Wallabies centre Nathan Grey for his shoulder charge into the face of Richard Hill.

"We were given Mr. Gray's decision in the early hours of Sunday morning," revealed Lenihan.

"There's no right of appeal, but I rang him a little later and told him what I thought of the decision.

"I think you could say he wasn't pleased to hear from me."