Wednesday, 8 August 2012:

At 195cm and 104kg, Brisbane AFL captain Jonathan Brown is not a man to be trifled with.

No wonder the Lions will be looking to get back on their skipper's good side after Brown unleashed a mighty spray heading into Saturday night's clash with Carlton.

The typically-frank Brown pulled no punches after the Lions reeled in a 45-point deficit to trail by 14 early in the final quarter, only to let Richmond run out 48-point winners at the Gabba last round.

He has made it clear the Lions must "walk the walk" in their final four games, otherwise they will be "going backwards".

Lions' youngster Dayne Zorko did not have to be reminded of Brown's thoughts as Brisbane (7-11 record) looked to turn around a horror five-week stretch that has included four losses and a tight win over lowly Gold Coast.

"It's more about finishing off and to stop talking about what we're doing and start showing it on the field," he said on Wednesday.

"For 10 minutes at the start of the last quarter (against Richmond), we were red hot and things were going our way.

"They got a couple of clearances and that was the end for us - we put our head down and shut up shop.

"So to finish out games is going to be our No.1 priority for the rest of the year and see if we can get some wins out of it."

Zorko said they would be out to upset Carlton coach Brett Ratten rather than Brown this weekend.

The Blues will be out to bounce back from last round's 22-point loss to Sydney as they look to keep their slim finals hopes alive.

"Brett Ratten's job is probably still on the line, so they're playing for him," Zorko said.

"They're still playing for the eight and we're going to try and shut that out this weekend."

Zorko had better hope the Lions keep Brown happy after their skipper unloaded in the wake of another "embarrassing" loss.

"To walk away and lose by 50-odd points after getting within 14 points early in the last quarter is a pretty embarrassing effort to be honest," Brown said.

"We need to have a look at ourselves as a playing group and step up to the plate - not roll over and say 'this is too hard'.

"We've got to show our character - and there's character in the group - there's no question about that - but we've got to be able to show it for that two hours on game day."

Their job won't be made any easier with the Lions ruling out a 2012 return for ruckman Matthew Leuenberger (Achilles), who went down in the third round.

AAP