CARLTON coach Michael Voss is at a loss as to why his side can't sustain four quarters of consistent football.

The Blues' second-half capitulations have become a costly trend this season, with sizeable first-half leads slipping away in six of their eight defeats.

But it was a different story for Voss and his besieged side on Friday night - albeit with the same result - with the Blues allowing Brisbane to get out to a 49-point lead before mounting a spirited second-half fightback.

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Carlton kicked six in a row either side of three-quarter time and outscored the Lions 11 goals to six after half-time as they threatened to turn the tables, cutting the margin to just 10 points late in the game before falling narrowly short in an 11-point loss.

"It highlights the capacity that's in the group, but it's also a familiar narrative in that the game asks you to play for longer," Voss said.

"We fought, which was pleasing. We could tell especially after half-time that there was a confidence growing with the group.

"But we've still got to be better than playing a half of football, we've got to put more time together than that."

Despite the encouraging fightback, the damage from another inconsistent outing left Voss with more frustration than satisfaction.

Voss said the performance only reinforced the need for higher standards and more sustained execution across an entire match, and insisted the Blues "can't be comfortable in mediocrity".

"We walk away disappointed ... we walk away very much not happy with that," he said

"We can't be comfortable in mediocrity, we've got to have higher standards of ourselves than that.

"We've put ourselves in positions in most games but I'm also sick of saying that."

Voss is fighting to keep his job amid a horror 1-8 start to the season, but rejected the notion the nature of the loss may have pumped life into his prospects.

"I don't coach for my job, I coach for building a culture," he said.

"Hopefully by the time I leave here we've got winning behaviours, and understand clearly what that looks like."

Brisbane had done most of the damage early, building a commanding lead off the back of its strong start and midfield control, with the Lions leading clearances 24-11 and centre bounces 10-2 at half-time.

Fagan admitted the second-half momentum shift gave him a few nerves, even if he felt his side had already done enough work, but he said he was happy to just bank the four points and move on.

"I was really pleased with our start. The thing about it is we worked hard to start well this week because Carlton had been playing really well in first halves and had won six out of eight of them, so we thought we'd make sure we were ready to go, which we were - our first half won us the game," Fagan said

"It's hard to win impressively every week in this competition and I was worried about this game because I actually have a fair bit of time for Carlton and the way they play their footy. I don't think their win-loss ratio is a reflection of them at all.

"They've been so competitive in first halves of games this year against good sides … to be honest with you, I'm just really happy to get away with the points tonight.

"I got a bit worried (in the second half, but) ... we answered it well, answered their challenges.

"In this long marathon of a season, sometimes you've just got to take the points."