There was no masking the importance of Brisbane's courageous 62-point turnaround against Port Adelaide at the Gabba.

Lions coach Michael Voss rated the penultimate-round comeback their best win of the year and a massive momentum turner a fortnight before the AFL finals.

Voss has seen better play, precision and pressure from his young troops in 2009 but in terms of character the thrilling 16.11 (107) to 14.8 (92) victory was top of the tree.

Down by 47 points after Port kicked 10 straight in the opening 25 minutes, Brisbane were staring at a fourth week in a row without a win and the loss of a home final.

But the Lions showed the mettle and self-belief Voss has been searching for to shoot 13 goals to four after quarter-time.

Seventh-placed Brisbane now meet Sydney at the SCG on Saturday with a home elimination final the reward. Four points will lift them above either Adelaide or Carlton, who meet in the final round with the loser to face the Lions.

"Our destiny is completely in our hands," Voss said. "We really want to be able to experience the chance to play a home final.

"The players should come out of that game feeling really good about themselves.

"They had to find something in the belly to get them over the line and to do that you have to get some confidence out of that.

"If there had been any question marks on form, I think a number of guys have been able to turn that around tonight."

Brisbane will go to Sydney without full-back Daniel Merrett, who strained his hamstring in Saturday night's first half, and they will sweat on results of Monday scans to determine his play-off availability.

Port's inability to convert a brilliant first-quarter epitomised their season of inconsistency.

It left them with nine losses from 10 matches on the road and praying Essendon lose their final two matches to stay in finals contention heading into their last-round game against North Melbourne.

Bewildered coach Mark Williams struggled to pinpoint the reasons why the Lions ran completely over the top of his tiring men.

It was the second time in two seasons Brisbane have beaten Port after trailing by 47 points. The previous time was at AAMI Stadium in round four last year.

"The mental belief and courage to keep going is certainly flimsy at the moment," Williams said.

"We'll be working on it over the summer feverishly to try and work through that and obviously we need to get new players."

Williams indicated veteran Peter Burgoyne, expected to retire at season's end, may receive a swansong appearance in front of his home fans against the Kangaroos.

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