A rejuvenated Western Bulldogs put a down payment on an AFL finals top four berth with a tense three-goal win over Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday night.

After enjoying a four-day preparation in Queensland, the northern sunshine proved to be a perfect antidote for the Bulldogs, who bounced back strongly from their shock loss to West Coast.

Rodney Eade's men dispelled fears they were suffering a another late season fadeout by kicking 15.12 (102) to 12.12 (84) to become just the third club to win away at the Gabba this season.

To the chagrin of the 33,421-strong home crowd, it was former favourite son Jason Akermanis who killed off the surging Lions in the final quarter with a signature left-foot goal on the boundary line.

Inspired by two booming long goals by Josh Drummond, who also set up another to skipper Jonathan Brown, Brisbane had closed to within 12 points early in the final term.

But when Akermanis intervened with his freakish strike after beating youngster James Hawksley, the Lions' momentum was stopped dead.

The fourth-placed Bulldogs' win extends their narrow gap on the ladder to one clear match ahead of Adelaide with two rounds to play, while the Lions slipped to sixth as their hopes of a double finals chance disappeared.

Brisbane are now six points behind the Bulldogs, who finish with tough clashes against Geelong and Collingwood.

The Lions suffered badly from a sloppy start, particularly in front of goals, as the desperate visitors also continually pressured them into error to grab a 33-point half-time advantage.

They steadied the ship in the third term, kicking 4.0 but only won the term by a point as limping Bulldogs veteran Brad Johnson came back from a leg problem to slot two majors.

Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade, who bemoaned poor finishing in last week's defeat, would have been well pleased by a far more polished performance in front of goals, especially in the first half as they slotted 10.5.

In his 200th match, Nathan Eagleton booted three majors, while Adam Cooney, Bob Murphy and Matt Boyd were starring performers as the Bulldogs continually harassed the Lions.

Ruckman Mitch Clark, with 22 disposals and 24 hit-outs, was the shining light for the home side and showed up his on-ballers.

Full forward Daniel Bradshaw kicked three goals, as well as Brown and Drummond, but two close-range misses either side of quarter-time proved dreadfully costly.

The Bulldogs ruled out on-baller Ryan Griffen due to back tightness but emergency Sam Reid, a Brisbane product, took little time to grab his chance with both hands.

A proud Eade rated it the Bulldogs' best performance of the year, particularly considering Tom Williams (suspected broken foot), Bob Murphy (cork) and Sam Reid (leg soreness) were mere passengers in the second half.

"That was certainly our best win of the year, there's no doubt about it," he said. "It was just a courageous, tough win, up here, playing for a top-four spot, and them virtually full-strength. Great win.

"To do what they did in the last 15-20 minutes was fantastic."

A furious Michael Voss blasted his players for waiting until the game was almost out of reach before snapping into gear and showing some trademark aggression.

"This year I never thought I'd say it about this group but we were insipid in the way we played in the first half," he said.

"We got seduced by the game. We didn't really move the ball with any real ascendancy and almost were waiting for permission to play the style of footy we wanted to play.

"I just think the team fabric fell apart, and what we stand for fell apart today."

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