If Saturday night's performance against West Coast is the sort of football the Brisbane Lions will be serving up under Michael Voss, the former club champion would do well to stock up on hair dye and find time for meditation.

A stressed Voss was forced to watch his club concede six consecutive goals in the first quarter before they stumbled further to be 38 points down early in the second quarter.

The Lions looked destined for heavy defeat but found something, slotting nine goals in a frenetic third term before Voss would have had more reason to panic in the dying stages when a Dean Cox goal saw the margin cut to nine points.

Brisbane managed to hold on, despite kicking an inaccurate zero goals, five behinds in the final quarter and Voss admitted there were plenty of nervous times during his debut in the coaching box.

"I hated it at times, anyone that says it is enjoyable is dead set kidding themselves," Voss joked.

"I loved it, the one thing I loved was I felt like I was competing again, I wasn't out there riding the bumps but it felt like it."

The former Brownlow medalist did not shed any light on the motivational material contained in his quarter-time or half-time sprays, but was happy to see his chargers answer the call to start winning more contested possession.

"Credit to the guys, they did the work and got the result," he said.

"It was just going to be one of those games for us to get back into it, and the guys did it, it wasn't flashy, it wasn't great. but I don't know too many Round 1 games that are."

"Round 1, the team getting a win on the board, you couldn't ask for anything better."

Classy midfielder Simon Black, lacking any match practice after a horrid preseason plagued by illness and injury, was a late withdrawal from the game, with Voss making the decision on Friday that the risk was too high.

"He obviously trained yesterday and we decided he wouldn't play."

"Blacky was crook for most of the week and it got to Friday and his lungs weren't feeling much better."

Baring any further illness concerns, Voss said Black would return for the Lions' Round 2 away fixture against Carlton.

Eagles coach John Worsfold conceded his side did not deserve to win and lamented his side's third quarter fadeout that 'cost' the visitors the match.

"It's a very tough one to work through, the players are very conscious of it and we're very keen to address that, because that is potentially going to cost us games, it did tonight," Worsfold said.

"There are reasons why and we have to address them, whether it's players not playing their role, sitting off their men too much."

"There has got to be something, for them to kick nine goals in one quarter and five in the other three."