RECENTLY re-signed Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss says he draws confidence from the positive steps his team has taken this season.

Voss, who signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday, was upbeat about the Lions' prospects in 2012 despite only winning four games in 2011.

Voss cited a maturing player group, a greater contribution from younger players and some encouraging performances over the final weeks of the home and away season as reasons behind his optimism.

"We've seen a genuine improvement in our players over the last six, eight weeks, which says to me automatically we are going to get better as a group. We will," Voss said after Saturday's 52-point loss to the Sydney Swans.

"Our program that we put in place is working."

The Lions have put in credible performances against a number of the top teams in the run home.

They led Geelong at three-quarter time in round 17, just fell short against Collingwood in round 22 and suffered a narrow loss to West Coast last week.

Voss said the team could have finished the season with "probably seven or eight wins".

"I think generally we were in a position to win games, at least another three or four occasions we should have come away with wins," he said.

Against the Swans on Saturday, the visitors led by six points at quarter-time, but conceded eight goals to two in the second term snuffing out any hope of a last-round win.

Voss said the Swans were able to strangle the life out of the Lions in the second term, denying them flow and the ability to move the ball quickly down the ground.

"Across the whole game, obviously their relentlessness for the contest was pretty impressive," Voss said.

But he was pleased that his players continued to fight hard throughout and did not throw in the towel.

"I think across the year we have learned to become tougher as a group," Voss said.

"I mentioned to the players in here a little bit earlier about how you'd always see Simon Black as the player that was trying to lift the team and we've got a number of players that are doing that now."