BRISBANE Lions midfielder Tom Rockliff has a way with understatement, or at least that’s the way it seems after his summation of his marking performance during the Lions' victory over Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.

"It fell in my lap a couple of times, which was pretty lucky," he said.

Lucky?

Rockliff took 10 marks, six of them contested, mostly in one-on-one duels deep inside the attacking 50m as the Lions careered away to a 41-point victory.

During a purple patch early in the third quarter, he took three pearlers at a stage when the Lions and Demons were neck and neck.

For the first, he took the ball one-handed on his shoulder and then slotted the goal.

For the next, he used every ounce of strength to push his opponent back until he grabbed the Sherrin just as it was about to fall into the Demons defender's arms.

Rockliff took another grab minutes later. The final two marks in his five-minute cameo resulted in behinds.

For all his wizardry in the air, he was not so convincing by foot. He finished with 3.5 on a day in which he could easily have kicked six.

"It was a bit swirly. I was adjusting for the wind," he said.

"It's something to work on in coming weeks: get my goalkicking right if I'm going to send more time down there."

Rockliff won the Lions' best and fairest last year playing as a midfielder. Against the Demons, he spent most of his time at full-forward and had only the occasional run on the ball.

Voss's tactic with the 22-year-old was a classic case of isolating a talented player against a less talented player in the region where it hurts most. His opponents against Melbourne were Joel Macdonald and Demons co-captain Jack Grimes.

Rockliff is no stranger to the goalsquare. During his teenage years, he played as a full-forward and midfielder with TAC Cup club Murray Bushrangers and his country footy club, Benalla.

He kicked a competition-high 59 goals for the Bushrangers in their premiership year of 2008 and such was his impact that season, he won the club's best and fairest award ahead of highly fancied teammates Jack Ziebell and Steele Sidebottom.

"I learned a few tricks of the trade when I was 17 or 18, playing deep forward," he said.

The question now is whether he'll remain at full-forward when Lions captain Jonathan Brown returns from injury in round three.

"I don’t know if he'll get a game," Rockliff said with a smile.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL