BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss says wins will flow for his side if it can reproduce the form it showed in the second half against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Although it would have been easy to dwell on the Lions' diabolical first half, in which they were obliterated in all major statistical categories, Voss chose to highlight the numerous positives of their efforts after half-time.

After trailing by 58 points early in the third quarter, the fast-finishing Lions piled on nine of the last 11 goals, including the last four of the match, to go down by just 16 points.

"If we continue to play that style of footy (that) we did in the second half, I'm sure the wins will come," he said post-match.

"In the first half they put the pressure on us and we weren't (putting it on them, but) we probably flicked it in the second half. It's that consistency of execution that you need."

Both Voss and skipper Jonathan Brown blamed skill errors rather than any lapse in attitude for the Lions' disastrous opening half.

"Our blokes came ready to play," Brown said.

Voss was more expansive, saying his players were well prepared to take on North Melbourne, which had lost its previous three matches.

"You don’t necessarily need to highlight it too much for the players to know that North are under the pump (so) expect a response," he said.

"In terms of the space the players were in (and) understanding that that's what was going to take place, it was going to be fairly hot early. And we weren't able to get our way through that early, so we had to chase all the way down, and that didn’t leave us enough time."

Brown cursed the timing of the three-quarter time siren, with the Lions on the charge after nailing the previous five goals to slash the margin to 26 points.

"Our momentum was up there, but we knew we had to score straight away after three-quarter time," he said. "We punched away at them but we couldn't get that critical goal.

"Three-quarter time came at the wrong time for us.

"When you chase from so far back, everything's got to go perfectly right for you and it takes an enormous amount of energy out of (you).

"They got the first goal (in the last quarter) and that sunk us."

Voss felt far more positive about his side's efforts than their previous four forays at Etihad Stadium, which they had lost by an average of 63 points.

"As a coach, when you come down here and we haven’t played necessarily well at Etihad Stadium, to be able to walk away with a second-half performance like that was hugely encouraging," he said.

"And I'm starting to see some encouraging performances by individual players that are showing that they’re starting to head in the right direction."

Voss noted the promise shown by debutant Elliot Yeo (who had 16 disposals, including an equal team-high 11 in the first half whitewash), three-goal forward Aaron Cornelius for his efforts "to support Browny", along with third-gamer Dayne Zorko (14 touches and a goal) and Josh Green (10 touches and two goals).

"We'll continue to add these guys in to make us stronger in the short term and the long term … and that will add the depth that we need in this group, and we'll build them up as the year goes," he said.

Voss insisted Simon Black's knee injury was merely a case of soreness and certainly nothing serious or chronic.