A star turn from Shaun Higgins has helped North Melbourne to a comfortable 54-point win over a depleted Brisbane at Etihad Stadium.

The Lions suffered a disastrous injury toll and played the second half of the 21.15 (141) to 12.15 (87) AFL defeat on Sunday with just one fit player on the bench.

Charlie Cameron (ankle), Allen Christensen (concussion) and Hugh McCluggage (hamstring) all left the game in the first half after Jarrod Berry was a late withdrawal with hamstring soreness.

North forward Jy Simpkin enjoyed a solid afternoon, but will come under scrutiny for the first-quarter bump that left Christensen dazed.

Combative Lion Mitch Robinson was reported for a bump on Higgins in the third quarter, but the star Roo was able to continue.

His 38-possession performance set a new career-high.

North had plenty of other contributors, with Luke McDonald (34 disposals and two goals), Ben Cunnington (28 touches and Jack Ziebell (19 possessions and three goals) all important.

Paul Ahern had an AFL debut to remember, the former GWS midfielder amassing 29 possessions.

Former Brisbane skipper Dayne Beams had to contend with master tagger Ben Jacobs and he won the day with a superb 32-disposal, five-goal effort.

Eleven rounds into the season, the Lions still haven’t won a first quarter after the Roos bounded out to a 33-point lead at the first break.

A smashing of 100-plus points was in the offing when the margin increased to 55 points at halftime.

But Chris Fagan will at least take heart in the way his undermanned team played out the contest.

They stemmed the bleeding to trail by 57 points at three-quarter time and, with four goals to Beams, won the final term against all odds.

The Kangaroos had their own injury issues.

Tom Murphy was called out of the crowd to make his AFL debut after Jarrad Waite experienced calf tightness in the warm-up.

Jed Anderson didn’t feature in the second half after he suffered a hip injury.