North Queensland Fury coach Ian Ferguson admits the 4-0 loss to Brisbane Roar on the weekend in a pre-season friendly was a good eye-opener for his players.

Ferguson went into the clash without many key players, preferring to use trialists and state league players and although the result was far from ideal, was positive afterwards.

"It was a good learning curve for some of the boys that are playing state leagues to actually come up against a quality side as Roar," he told the Townsville Bulletin.

"A lot of the boys are just probably not up to that standard yet and I think the Roar, for them, is a good eye opener to see what level you have got to be in the A-League."