BRISBANE Lions vice-captain Simon Black appears likely to miss the club's round one clash with West Coast at the Gabba after being struck down by gastroenteritis.

Black is one of 18 players at the club recovering from the bug after falling ill over the weekend.

The news sours the Brownlow Medallist's hopes of playing in Saturday week's season opener as he was already recovering from a broken hand sustained in February.

It means Black has a complete lack of match practice and assistant coach Justin Leppitsch was pessimistic about his chances of playing the Eagles.

"I would have thought he was highly unlikely to play," Leppitsch said on Wednesday.

"He hasn't had any match minutes. It's been done before not having match minutes and playing round one, and if anyone could do that it's Simon Black. But that's going to be heavily discussed on Monday."

Black, who also underwent post-season ankle surgery, suffered his fracture last month but was originally rated a good chance to play round one.

The Lions are keen to bring back their key onballer through the seniors rather than the reserves but much will depend on how they match up against the Eagles' midfield.

"I wouldn't have thought he would play reserves, I would have thought he'd play senior football for reduced minutes," Leppitsch said.

"It's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle with Simon, we'll look at those pieces on Monday."

Captain Jonathan Brown, Luke Power, Jamie Charman, Joel Patfull and Mitch Clark are others who have been affected by the bug.

Coach Michael Voss has quarantined his sick players, meaning close to half the squad sat out team training at Coorparoo on Wednesday.

"It's definitely a distraction but you would rather it this week then next," Leppitsch said.

"I don't think it's ever handy but if there was any week it could have come this is not a bad one."

The Lions have gained clearance from the AFL for ruckman Charman and full-back Daniel Merrett to play for Aspley in the QAFL on Saturday.

Neither Charman (knee) nor Merrett (quad) have played a pre-season game but are expected to line up against the Eagles if they get through the weekend's match against Morningside.

Draftee Daniel Rich, named as the favourite to win this year's NAB AFL Rising Star Award by the 16 club captains on Wednesday, is set to make his debut against West Coast.