Merrett, who overcame a hamstring injury to take his place in the side, was outstanding in victory, but said the coach hit the right mark with his final address.
The home team trailed by 24 points at the last break, then 30 just two minutes in before the stunning revival.
“He reminded us about pre-season and do we want to put all that hard work in pre-season to jump out first week of the finals,” Merrett said of Voss’s address.
“We had nothing to lose, he just said `boys, no fear, take the game on, what have you got to lose’ and I think that’s when we play our best footy.
“We have the tendency to play safe footy and then once we get in that state where it’s now or never, we play our best footy and that’s just the spirit of the group".
Despite being under his injury cloud for most of the week, the Lions vice-captain said he was always confident of playing.
In his seventh season at the club, and with his first finals appearance on the line, he was not going to miss out.
And once into the contest, the defensive pillar led from the front, keeping Brendan Fevola to just nine possessions, five marks and three goals for the night.
“He’s super quick and he’s got super strong hands so I just try and put as much body pressure on him as possible and make him earn his marks,” Merrett said.
“With Brendan you’ve got to try and keep him down as much as possible because once he gets that one mark or kicks that long goal, he’s up and going again and he can put three or four on the board pretty quickly.
“They’re always going to try and hit him up, you can’t relax.”
Merrett said it was the best win he had been involved with at the Lions, and came as a result of the group having faith they could turn things around.
He said after being under pressure for most of the third quarter, the Lions’ defence had no energy to run the ball, but were able to change things in the last term.
Merrett said fellow vice captain Simon Black’s effort to beat a hamstring injury and play a remarkable role in the win was inspirational.
“I thought Blacky was gone three or four times, every time I looked at the big screen it looked like he was hobbling around but he’s just a warrior and you love playing alongside him.
“He just fought the game out. I’m definitely glad he’s in my team.”
