BRISBANE'S struggling midfield aces need to stick to the basics to return to their best form, says coach Chris Fagan.

Fagan has conceded co-captains Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage along with dual Norm Smith Medal winner Will Ashcroft have been well below their high output of previous years for the 6-4 Lions.

Speaking ahead of the team's main training session on Thursday morning in preparation for Greater Western Sydney on Sunday, Fagan said the trio has to keep things simple.

"They're just humans and you do have form lapses," he said. "It appears right now they're a little bit off their best.

"They're proud performers. They'll go to work on their game.

"It's really just going back to what you do when you play your best footy and not moving away from that.

"They would have been reminded of that by their line coaches this week, and myself, and looking at vision. There's a variety of different things you can do."

The trio has had challenges with their bodies in the past six months; Dunkley had off-season shoulder surgery, McCluggage had an early-season calf problem that forced him to miss three matches while Ashcroft has been strapped in multiple spots in recent weeks, although his coach says that has been precautionary.

In the midst of a 10-day break between games, Fagan said the Lions had addressed their team defence following last week's loss to Geelong.

He described it as "inconsistent" and that the leaking of 17 goals against the Cats, as well as 11 goals in the second half against Carlton the week before, was not caused by one specific problem.

"Until the game against Geelong, we'd won six of our last seven games. And our one loss was by a couple of points to Melbourne, who as it turns out are a pretty good side," he said.

"We had seven weeks of great form and we had a poor game the other night.

"As a coach I deal with reality. That's my job.

"I understand the commentary and there's so many of you working in the media you have to come up with a story and making it sound like it's panic stations at the Brisbane Lions is one of the things that gets raised, but that's not he case inside the four walls.

"We certainly haven't played well for the last six quarters, but it's all part and parcel of a football season.

"The last two years we've been in similar positions.

"In the perfect world, we'd be eight wins and two losses. But we're not, we're six and four, so that's what you’ve got to deal with."

Dayne Zorko (soreness) and Ty Gallop (hamstring) will likely return to face the Giants if they get through training and recover well, but Jarrod Berry (calf) and Noah Answerth (concussion) are another week away.