1. Battle of the young guns
Josh Schache and Jacob Weitering were the top two draft picks last year and have largely lived up to their top billing with string starts to their AFL careers. With both prowling around the same half of the field, they are sure to come across each other at some stage on Saturday afternoon.
2. Bell rings for Blues
Tom Bell left Carlton at the end of last season to return home to Queensland and has hardly put a foot wrong since landing in the Sunshine State. His three-goal burst last week against Hawthorn shows why he has quickly become a crowd favourite at the Gabba and he will be keen to turn on similar fireworks against his former side.
3. Time to make a big noise away from home
The Lions have been terrible on the road this year – and they have gone to extreme lengths this week to prepare for the hostile opposition crowd. Loud recordings of crowd noise and music was pumped around the Gabba sound system during training on Thursday to get the players focused on the task at hand.
4. Stopping the Blues’ backline double trouble
Kade Simpson and former-Lion Sam Docherty have taken all before them this season, racking up the possessions and marks between them as they set up Carlton’s play from the back. Locking down on one or both of is key to interrupting their system and it will be interesting to see if the Lions can quell the pair’s influence.
5. Return of the Rock
Brisbane had a rare win in the contested possession count last week, against the triple-Premier Hawks of all teams, and the return of skipper Tom Rockliff will have the Lions set for a repeat dose this week against the Blues. Rockliff has had an injury-interrupted 2016 and will be looking to make up for lost time against a Carlton midfield missing the influential Marc Murphy.
