IF BRISBANE wants to right its wobbly beginning to the season against Melbourne at the Gabba on Friday night, there's an easy place to start.

Watching last Saturday's 54-point trouncing from Port Adelaide, it was evident the Lions weren't working as hard as their opponents – in fact, statistics show they weren't working that hard at all.

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One number clubs pride themselves on is Champion Data's Pressure Factor, which measures a team's accumulative pressure through acts like chasing, corralling and tackling.

It helps delve a little deeper than simply looking at the number of tackles or the number of opposition scores.

While the Lions were solid in the first half in that department and took a 12-point lead to the main break, the second half saw a dramatic drop-off.

Brisbane's Pressure Factor for the third and fourth quarters was a combined 156, with only battling Hawthorn recording a lower number for that period of time in the opening round.

For comparison, Sydney topped 200 for the entire game in its win over Gold Coast.

The Lions have not shirked the performance in the ensuing days, with co-captains Lachie Neale and Harris Andrews both addressing the shortcomings.

"We just got outworked by a good team to be honest," Andrews said.

"It's going to be important for us to outwork each other, keep getting to the club, working hard, getting better, making sure we're recovering well, doing our best to get out there and compete hard.

"There's no sugar-coating it, we did get outworked. I think with a better attitude this week we'll be better for it."

And they'll need to be. Melbourne could not have been much more impressive in its 50-point win over the Western Bulldogs, with half-forwards Alex Neal-Bullen and Charlie Spargo, along with wings Ed Langdon and Lachie Hunter working tirelessly and at high speed to help their defensive effort.

Conversely, Lions coach Chris Fagan had a heap of examples to show his players following the Port loss where they were let down by intensity or effort.

Whether it was Ryan Burton taking unchecked handball receives at half-back, Connor Rozee running unattended through the middle of the ground while play unfolded on a wing, or Jason Horne-Francis running free from centre clearances without a hand being laid on him.

Neale described his own performance as one of the worst five of his career.

"It was a pretty poor performance by most of the guys," he told Fox Footy.

"We send in some ratings on our game, and I think it was the lowest we've ever had in Fages' time at the Lions, so that gives you an indication of the performance.

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"Our running was down, everything was down.

"We've got to bring a lot better effort. You can't win any footy games the way we played on the weekend. I think we would have lost to all other 17 clubs."

It will require more than effort to take down the Demons, who handed Brisbane two hidings in the home and away season in 2022 before the Lions got their revenge with a thrilling come-from-behind semi-final win at the MCG.

But, as Neale said, there's a simple place to start.

"Our workrate," he said.

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"It's something we prided ourselves on all summer. We went away from the prelim loss last year and wanted to come back and be fitter and stronger and we felt like we'd done that, but we didn't show that.

"For us, just getting our workrate up and making sure we show our fans and our club … that we can do it."