JACK Gunston expects Saturday to be a "weird feeling" when he runs out against Hawthorn for the first time in his 14-year career.
Gunston, who joined Brisbane during the off-season, spent 11 seasons at the Hawks and was part of the hat-trick of premierships from 2013-2015.
In his two seasons with Adelaide prior to that, the 31-year-old never ran out against the brown and gold.
"It's somewhere I had great memories for 11 years and still have a lot of great friends there," Gunston said on Tuesday morning.
"It's a weird feeling, but for two hours out there, they're the opposition.
"When we go out there, we're opposing players and we're competitive people and we want to beat each other."
It will be Brisbane's first trip to the MCG since losing last season's preliminary final against Geelong.
It will play there just once more – against Melbourne in round 18 – before hoping to revisit the Grand Final venue in September.
Gunston said there had been no banter with his former club, yet, although he still kept in close contact with Luke Breust, who kicked his 500th career goal at the weekend.
"We probably chat every second day, if not every day," he said.
"To see him still performing at such a high level, it's awesome to watch. Hopefully we can quieten him this weekend."
Brisbane will regain the services of Jack Payne to face the Hawks after he missed the pre-bye loss to Adelaide with concussion.
The Lions will have to find a replacement for suspended veteran Dayne Zorko, with Deven Robertson, Kai Lohmann and Nakia Cockatoo all vying for the position.
