BRISBANE Lions vice-captain Tom Rockliff is confident Matt Maguire will bounce back this weekend, after a frank post-match discussion helped the under-siege full-back move on from last Sunday's nightmare against Geelong.

Maguire came in for heavy criticism from coach Michael Voss following the loss against Geelong in which Cats spearhead James Podsiadly kicked eight goals.

Voss described Maguire's performance as "a shocker" and "horror" and one he would have to rebound from.

Maguire faces a difficult assignment on Saturday against in-form North Melbourne spearhead Drew Petrie, but Rockliff says he's in the right frame of mind to do so.

Rockliff said Maguire came into the sheds immediately after the Geelong match and aired his frustration.

"We sat in there after the game and had a chat and he got off his chest what he wanted to get off his chest and moved on pretty quick which was important, and I think he'll come out well this weekend and do his job for our footy club," Rockliff said.

"There's no point, especially with a six-day turnaround, dwelling on it for two or three days - you're on Wednesday or Thursday before you know it and you still haven't moved on.

"It was good for him and good for us to hear his thoughts and we moved on straight away and focused in on North Melbourne on Monday morning when we came in."

Without regular full-back Daniel Merrett (back) for the rest of the season, Maguire has assumed the mantle as the Lions' number-one key defender.

Rockliff said the 27-year-old had not received much help against Podsiadly, with Maguire's four contested marks showing he held his own in a number of one-on-one battles.

"Podsiadly had some pretty good footy coming into him and we couldn't get defenders back to help out and fly third up, so hopefully we can put a bit more pressure on the footy coming forward," Rockliff said.

"He'll (Maguire) be looking to bounce back after last week. He did the job on Jack Riewoldt when we played Richmond, so I'm sure he'll be fired up."

Rockliff said the Lions could also cover the loss of skipper Jonathan Brown, and had learned plenty from the winless six matches he spent on the sidelines earlier this season.

"It's always going to be a challenge without your skipper, and especially Browny because he's our main target going forward, but we've discovered Pat Karnezis, he's popped up with his goals every week, and Mitch Clark is back and played pretty good footy on the weekend," he said.

"We've definitely got targets going forward."

Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mike_whiting