FOR THE third straight game Brisbane produced a barnstorming finishing burst to over-run a wilting opponent, but Saturday night's 17-point victory against Port Adelaide showed something a little different.

In the opening fortnight the Lions mauled West Coast and eventually – deservedly on the weight of numbers – got over the top of North Melbourne.

In both wins they kicked a flurry of goals in the final five minutes.

But, with the Power leading by 10 points late in the fourth quarter and a number of Brisbane players below their best, this game was heading in a different direction.

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First it was Lachie Neale who goaled from a free kick. It was fitting the man with a game-high 43 disposals helped wrestle the momentum back his team's way.

Then cult hero Oscar McInerney took a towering pack mark amongst half a dozen bodies and converted from 40m to give Brisbane the lead.

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That was at the 30-minute mark.

There was still time for Eric Hipwood and Charlie Cameron to add icing to the cake and give Brisbane its best start to a season in nine years ahead of a date with Essendon at the MCG next Saturday afternoon.

Even coach Chris Fagan conceded they were just a little lucky.

"For the first time ever since I've been coaching the Lions I feel like we didn't play all that well, but we won," he said.

"I guess that's a good sign."

In contrast to the opening two weeks where Brisbane dominated at centre clearances and comfortably won the inside 50 count, Ken Hinkley's men were having their way at the Gabba.

Travis Boak, Sam Powell-Pepper and returning skipper Ollie Wines combined for 13 of their team's 21 centre clearances. Brisbane had just 10 all up.

It helped Port to a 61-52 advantage in the inside 50s, but poor goalkicking from the visitors kept the Lions afloat.

Brisbane even gifted goals. Young defenders Zac Bailey and Alex Witherden gave away 50m penalties to take Port players to the goal line for the simplest of conversions.

But it still wasn't enough to deter the Lions – they're a different team now.

It's a game they would have lost last year, but when the chips were down, up stepped Neale, Mitch Robinson and Josh Walker with big final terms.

The latter finished with 23 disposals, including a remarkable 16 marks, helping to repel Port's surges.

"To be one of the top teams you've got to win ones where you are a bit scrappy and you're not playing perfectly," Walker said.

"So it's good to get that out of it.

"We like to think we can run out games and so we know if we're in it halfway through the last quarter we're pretty confident we can run it out."

It's just three wins and Brisbane is a long way from doing anything, but what they have shown in that period is they're never out of a match and never give up.