North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley has rated quiet achievers Brisbane alongside the AFL's high-flyers after the Lions dominated his side.

The Kangaroos were touched up in all facets of the game apart from goalkicking accuracy on Saturday night as Brisbane stormed to a 31-point victory at the Gabba.

The seventh-placed Lions have flown under the radar for the first 10 weeks of the premiership but their third straight win has moved them just one win from the top four with a 6-4 record.

With a Sunday home game against the lowly Fremantle next weekend, Leigh Matthews' men will have a solid platform from which they can attack the second part of the season.

The Lions have already shown they can mix it with the best after tight losses to premiers Geelong and ladder leader Hawthorn.

While Matthews is unprepared to talk up his hard-running and maturing young team as a genuine premiership threat, Laidley had no qualms whatsoever.

Laidley said there was no disgrace in being outpointed 18.21 (129) to 15.8 (98) by the Lions on their home patch.

He admitted his Shinboners outfit was a different side to that which made the 2007 preliminary final against Port Adelaide with nine new players but was still comfortable with their prospects.

"We've introduced a lot of young guys and we've really made sure we've done that and we still have won our fair share of games," Laidley said.

"And we've been pretty competitive against a side (Brisbane) who I think are pretty close to the mark.

"I know a lot of people talk about Hawthorn, the Bulldogs and Geelong but I rate this side very highly."

The Kangaroos coach denied his side was flat after their thrilling upset of the Bulldogs but justifiably panned his midfield for failing to come close to the Lions on-ballers, led by Simon Black.

Black enjoyed a game-high 30 disposals to continue his brilliant form since having a fortnight off with a sore groin.

"We didn't take all our chances, they took all of theirs so that kept the scoreboard close but we dominated most parts of the game so we've continued on a good patch," Matthews said.

Matthews' major concern was with inspirational skipper Jonathan Brown who bagged a six-goal haul for the third straight week.

Brown badly hyper-extended his left knee in the third term and spent 10 minutes off the field as the Kangaroos surged to within 19 points.

The power-forward returned and played most of the rest of the game out and kicked the sealer in the final term but admitted himself he was no certainty to play the Dockers.

Like Brown, chief rebounding defenders Josh Drummond, Jason Roe and Ash McGrath are under a cloud due to hamstring problems that cut the Lions contingent of fit men to 19 in the second half.

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