BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss has conceded his side will be down on confidence for the rest of the year after suffering a 55-point demolition at the hands of Carlton on Thursday night.

Despite a recent good record against the Blues, Voss’ side, sorely missing the influence of injured pair Jonathon Brown and Brendan Fevola, fell away sharply from a promising opening quarter and had few answers for the Blues’ potent forward line.

With just one win from their past 10 matches, the race for a finals berth now looks bleak for the Lions who sit two games adrift of the eight and face St Kilda, Hawthorn and Geelong in the next three weeks.

“I don’t think you go in with any confidence at all (against those three sides),” Voss said.

“At the moment you are scraping the bottom of the barrel to draw out any positives.

“It’s going to be a tough month but we’ve got to face them so there’s no hiding.”

Voss admitted that the lacklustre showing against Carlton shows the injury-plagued side is seemingly devoid of the self-belief that saw them win the opening four matches of the season.

“We haven’t got a lot of resistance at the moment,” Voss said.

“We’re quite brittle when it comes to being able to finish off games at the moment.

“When it cracks it seems to shatter pretty quick - it’s something we’ve got to be able to make sure we get back within the group and quickly.”

During the week, Voss flagged a focus on the contested ball from his side but the words fell on deaf ears as the Lions were smashed around the stoppages and finished the game trailing Carlton in the contested possession count by 28.

“If there is an absolute fundamental of our game it is that, to play AFL football, you must be able to win your contest,” Voss said

“At the moment we have too many who aren’t and it puts enormous strain on (players) down the field. 

“We got hurt a number of times because we weren’t able to win those contests.”

The Brisbane Lions are expected to receive a boost in their bid to beat St Kilda next week with Voss flagging the likely return of Fevola from a minor groin tear suffered in their last match against Richmond.