BRISBANE Lions coach, Michael Voss hailed his side’s 42-point victory over Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium as the best of the season.

 “All factors, when you put them into consideration, I think it was the best win for sure,” he said.

Voss blamed poor ball use in the first half as the major cause of a 14-point half-time deficit and despite a couple of minor structural changes during the break, said it was the Lions’ positive attitude and ability to hit targets that reaped dividends.

“They [the players] were very positive [at half time] and they knew they had their opportunities and we knew we were sort of butchering the ball a little bit and if we were able to turn that around that would be the major difference for our team,” he said.

“We started to hit our targets, we started to take our marks and kick our goals which were equally presentable in the first half. In the first half we just weren’t able to do it.”

He described his side’s 7-5 record at the break as good reward for a strong showing during the first half of the season and was happy to give the players a few days off.

“The guys need the rest and recovery. Whenever you come to the half-way point of the year there’s a few guys screaming out for a rest.

“We’re no different to probably a lot of other clubs at the moment. Post-bye we do get a lot back but at the same time you can’t expect that it then happens for you.”

The Lions’ defence is set to be bolstered for round 13 with the likely return of Joel Patfull, Daniel Merrett and Josh Drummond after the break.

Voss hailed his inspirational skipper after the Lions’ spearhead booted five goals and provided the scoreboard impetus for his side’s second-half domination.

“I know what Jonathan Brown means to us and if he’s not one of the better players in the competition I think I could have a very long argument with you on that very thing.

“For St Kilda, Riewoldt is very important to their structure and Jonathan Brown is critically important to us. He’s our captain, he’s our physical presence that he gives us, the leadership he has will always put him in the top echelon.

“Whether he’s the best, or the second best or third best (in the AFL) doesn’t matter too much to me. He’s critically important to us.”

The only downside of the match was a shoulder injury to Troy Selwood that looks like keeping him out for a couple of weeks.