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Brisbane forward Eric Hipwood has kicked five goals, including four in the third quarter, to steer the Lions to a 33-point AFL win over Melbourne at the Gabba.

A four-goal burst late in the third quarter by Brisbane's Eric Hipwood has blown away Melbourne and lifted the Lions to a 33-point AFL win.

The rangy forward booted four majors in 10 minutes - including one after the third-quarter siren - as the Lions claimed a 15.17 (107) to 11.8 (74) win.

The victory is Brisbane's ninth of the season and keeps the Lions firmly entrenched in the top eight as they chase a first finals appearance since 2009.

Before Hipwood fired, both teams had struggled to take control of a scrappy Sunday affair at the Gabba.

It took a moment of brilliance by Lions' skipper Dayne Zorko to set the Lions' forward on his scoring spree.

Zorko cleverly middled the ball from the left pocket off his right boot straight to Hipwood dead in front of the goals.

The 21-year-old kicked true and then added three more before starting the final term with another goal as the Lions kicked clear.

"Eric just hit a purple patch where he kicked four goals in about 10 minutes which was quite amazing," he said.

"He was the beneficiary of some great team work but his finishing was extraordinary.

"All sorts of different goals he had to kick so well done to him."

Zorko himself finished with three majors as well as 31 disposals and seven clearances.

Fellow midfielder Lachie Neale was also heavily involved for the Lions, picking up a game-high 38 disposals and 12 clearances.

Christian Petracca had two first-quarter goals to be the only multiple goalscorer for the Demons, while Christian Salem and Clayton Oliver both picked up over 30 disposals each.

To compound the defeat, Demons ruckman Max Gawn finished the match on the bench after injuring his ankle in the second term.

The ruckman rolled his ankle coming down from a contest with Lion Stef Martin and despite returning late in the term, did not have much impact and spent most of the final quarter sitting on the pine.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin was confident Gawn's injury wasn't serious enough to put him in doubt for next weekend's clash with Carlton.

"He's going to be fine. Clearly it was a concern through the game. He couldn't probably do the things that we wanted him to do," Goodwin said.

"We played him forward at times to try and restrict him but once the game was done, we sort of pulled him off and tried to get him right for next week."

Brisbane also had an injury concern with tall Oscar McInerney copping a heavy head knock in the second quarter.

McInerney's head collided with the hip of Demon Salem, leaving him bloodied and groggy.

The 205cm ruckman was helped off the field by trainers but did not return due to concussion, although he was later cleared of any broken bones.