The Brisbane Lions avenged last year's shock loss to Melbourne by thrashing the AFL cellar-dweller by 55 points at the Gabba on Saturday night.

Skipper Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw combined for nine goals as the Lions continued their push for a top-four berth with a comfortable 16.15 (111) to 8.8 (56) victory.

The win was set up during the second and third quarters as Brisbane piled on 12 unanswered goals to stretch the margin to 74 points at the final change.

Six majors to three in the final term by the visitors gave the scoreboard a more respectable look but Dean Bailey still has plenty to ponder as the Demons crashed to their ninth consecutive loss.

Luke Power (33 disposals), Simon Black (29), Jed Adcock (26), Jared Brennan (26) and Daniel Rich (20) did as they pleased for the Lions, while Aaron Davey (31), Cameron Bruce (26), Colin Sylvia (24 and two goals) and Brad Green (24) were among the best Melbourne players.

Again it was poor decision making and simple skills errors which let the Demons down as Brisbane strolled to its eighth win of 2009.

Several Lions players made it clear before the match that they wanted to redeem themselves for last season's one-point defeat by the Demons at the MCG - a loss that sparked a horror run which saw them ultimately miss the finals for the fourth consecutive year.

With that in mind, Brisbane started in ferocious fashion - NAB Rising Star favourite Rich booting a goal within 30 seconds to give his team a perfect start.

The Demons made a bright start to keep the margin to 10 points at quarter-time before Brown exploded to break the game open in the second term.

The imposing big man kicked three of his five goals in a dominant quarter as the Lions opened up a commanding 47-point half-time lead.

It was more of the same after the break, the home side adding a further four goals to its tally and restricting Melbourne to just two goals at three-quarter time.

With the contest over, Melbourne outscored the home side in the last quarter in a rare win for the visitors but the Lions had already well and truly put the cue in the rack.

It took Bruce until the five-minute mark of the fourth term to kick his side's first goal since the 16-minute mark of the first quarter. The Demons added a further five goals for the term but it was too little too late as Brisbane consolidated its position among the top echelon on the ladder.

BRISBANE LIONS: 3.4, 9.7, 13.13, 16.15 (111)
MELBOURNE: 2.0, 2.2, 2.5, 8.8 (56)

GOALS: Brisbane Lions: Brown 5, Bradshaw 4, Rich 2, Polkinghorne 2, Stiller, Roe, Sherman
Melbourne: Sylvia 2, Morton, Robertson, Bruce, Jones, Jurrah, Davey
BEST: Brisbane Lions: Power, Black, Brown, Rich, Bradshaw, Brennan
Melbourne: Sylvia, Davey, Bruce, Green, Grimes
INJURIES: Brisbane Lions: Nil
Melbourne: Nil
REPORTS: Nil
CHANGES: M Bate (Melbourne) replaced in selected side by N Jones
UMPIRES: Donlon, Hay, Jeffery
CROWD: 23,750 at the Gabba