The Lions eased to a 54-7 victory in their first game on Australia soil, but they were made to work for their points in the opening exchanges.
The Lions were first on the board when James Lowe flicked a pass inside to captain Dan Sheehan to dot down, but in what ended up being unfortunate foreshadowing, the Lions failed to gather the restart and the Force capitalised on that error for Nic White to score a try and level things up.
It was the kind of error that really annoys coaches, and it would have frustrated Farrell even more to see his side repeat that mistake time and again at the restarts.
While there is a lot to be said for new combinations feeling each other out on a tour like this, with lifters not in synch with jumpers like they would be when on international duty, the repition of the blunders will be a cause for concern. Farrell will forgive human errors, but he certainly won't have been pleased with the fact the Lions were unable to fix that particular issue throughout the entirety of the 80 minutes.
Other elements that annoyed the Lions boss were the completely unnecessary penalties the forwards were giving away at ruck time. Over and again the referee could be heard shouting "hands away", only for the Lions to ignore the call and concede repeated infringements.
The referee eventually lost his patience with the build-up of indiscretions deep in the Lions' half, and Henry Pollock was the man finally singled out to spend 10 minutes in the bin when he beame the latest to transgress.
The young prodigy shook his head as he was leaving the field, but he can't have felt too hard done by after the continuous pleas from the referee to allow quick ball.
And while the forwards were doing their part to keep the Force in the game, so too were the backs in their excitement to press in defence; there were several penalties conceded for offside in what was also unnecessary decision making from some of Europe's best.
Garry Ringrose had managed at times to fly out the line and end an attacking threat, but too many of his team-mates mistimed their own efforts and either got beaten or were spotted going too early - the kind of mistake that, along with the ruck penalties, Farrell will feel are ill affordable when it comes time for the Test series.
"We gave a good few penalties away through a lack of discipline certainly... once we stopped giving them the field position and territory they wanted, I felt we defended really well and we were composed enough to score some nice tries," Farrell said in his post-match interview.
Farrell could be seen on Sky Sports' coverage about an hour before that, giving his side a strong message in the dressing rooms at half-time, and it appeared to work. His players conceded far fewer penalties after the break, but it was the actions of one man in particular that gave the head coach cause to smile in the second half.
After the Force had stolen possession from a loose pass on the hour mark, the ball was hacked up the field by their full-back Ben Donaldson, who chased his own kick.
Also chasing was Hansen, however, and the Lions winger showed great willing to outsprint Donaldson to the ball, then scooped it up and bought some time by stepping the cover defence while his team-mates caught up with play.
He stayed upright in the tackle, offloaded to Huw Jones, and immediately took his place back on the wing, to where the ball was recycled.
Hansen received a pass from Sheehan and booted the ball into the back field, then gave chase once again; his pressure forcing a loose pass which resulted in a knock-on.
Farrell could be seen pumping his fist in celebration in the coaches' box, and afterwards heaped praise on his winger.
"I mean, there were some fantastic tries, but the play of the day by a country mile was Mack Hansen," he said.
"Back and forward, full length of the field, fighting for his team on his own, that's what a Lion should 100 percent do for his team."
There will be plenty of work-ons for the Lions after their victory over the Force. None more so than their restarts, their line speed in defence, and their discipline around the breakdown.
But those are all fixable problems - a lack of effort is not. That is why Hansen's effort in the second half will lead the team talks this week ahead of everything else.