DANIEL Rich says Brisbane has been given a reminder its best football is good enough to make a huge impact in the competition, as it looks to break clear from a difficult patch against Fremantle on Sunday.

After sitting comfortably inside the top four a month ago, the Lions have dropped three from their past four matches to slide down to sixth.

It was only six rounds ago they comprehensively beat premiership fancies Geelong at the Gabba, and Rich said this week had been a combination of reviewing poor form, and remembering the good.

"You take learnings out of every game, but it is nice to remind yourself that your best is good enough," Rich said on Thursday afternoon.

"Naturally you do a lot of reviewing with your line coaches individually and the senior coach, but as a team it's good to see that our best is good enough and get reminded of that every now and then.

"The comp is so even that if you don't bring your A-Game, then you're going to get shown up.

"Part of bringing our A-Game is bringing that energy, that spark, that want for the contest.

"It's hard to do that week in, week out, every game of the season, but unfortunately it's happening a little more than we'd like at the moment."

Brisbane is spending the week in Perth as it prepares to play the eighth-placed Dockers, hoping to recapture its best form over the final three weeks of the season.

Young defender Jack Payne suffered a knee injury against Hawthorn on Sunday, but Rich said he had progressed well during the week.

The main focus has been on bringing consistent energy across the entire match, with a flat first half against Gold Coast and poor first three quarters against the Hawks characterising that in the past two weeks.

"You can't just show up for a half or a quarter and expect to get the job done, especially when you're in the finals and you're playing teams in the top eight, it's something you have to bring consistently, not just in patches," he said.

"I wouldn't say it's panic stations.

"We'd love for it to happen for 120 minutes but there's ups and downs in games and seasons."