THE BRISBANE Lions are out to avoid a repeat of last year's NAB Cup floggings by fielding a more experienced line-up when they play their first matches on February 25.

In last year's pre-season competition, the Lions were smashed by Essendon (62 points) and St Kilda (29 points) in the two half-matches at Etihad Stadium.

The Lions played without the likes of Jonathan Brown, Simon Black, Luke Power and Josh Drummond but the heavy defeats certainly did little for the team's confidence.

Vice-captain Jed Adcock said although there was no special emphasis on the pre-season competition this year, the Lions would be fielding more experienced teams when they played Gold Coast and Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on February on February 25.

They have had a near-perfect pre-season to date, with just Brent Staker (knee) sidelined and Drummond (hip), draftee Sam Docherty (hip) and Todd Banfield (knee) on restricted programs.

"I know we played a very young side last year and got blown out of the water in the first round, I think it'll be a lot different this year," Adcock said.

"We seem to have a lot more players ready to play now than we did last year, so hopefully we can put in a better performance.

"You can learn some things about your structures and game plan and styles and the way you want to play. They're very scrappy games in the first four games, it's more getting some miles in the players' legs and getting some match fitness."

For the second time in a week, the Lions trained on a rooftop artificial turf field at Brisbane's St Laurence's College on Tuesday, completing a skills session in sweltering humidity.

Adcock, who captained the team for much of last season in the absence of injured skipper Brown, said the players were excited about the prospect of playing.

"It's probably nearly the best part of pre-season. You get to about a month out and you stop doing all your conditioning work, it's all skill based work and game simulation - 14 v 14, 18 v 14," he said.

"You stop your running sessions, which are always a pain and no-one enjoys, so this is probably the best part of the year but you do get a bit itchy from now on in that you want to just get in and start playing games."

Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mike_whiting