JONATHAN Brown came through his first match since fracturing his jaw last July unscathed, but will not travel to Alice Springs to play Adelaide next week.

The Brisbane Lions captain played most of both NAB Cup matches against Melbourne and Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night, and despite not kicking a goal in the wet, was a solid contributor.

However, Lions coach Michael Voss said the skipper would be put on ice while the rest of the team headed west to take on the Crows in round two of the pre-season competition.

"No, we won't take him," Voss said.

"We'll assess the list now. Probably most that played full games we'll think about whether we take them next week or not. There's no injuries so now it's about being able to manage our list."

While Voss was pleased got through without injury, he saved most praise for his young players on the difficult night.

He gave raps to Claye Beams, Billy Longer, Ryan Harwood, Josh Green, Elliot Yeo and Jared Polec, saying the Lions' depth was quickly improving.

"I think there's a few Brisbane Lions fans that should be pretty excited by some of the things they saw tonight from some of their younger players," he said.

"Competitive intent is what you're after. You're re-engaged with the contest now. I thought our players' attack on the footy was first class in a lot of instances."

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna also saved his biggest compliments for one of his newest players in Tasmanian recruit Aaron Hall.

Hall kicked two goals in the three-point win over Melbourne and was a livewire in both matches.

"He showed some dash and composure," McKenna said.

"You see the tapes of him playing in Tasmania and always hope they can transfer that to playing men in the heat of AFL football, and in training he has demonstrated that, but it's probably easy against your teammates, but coming up against opposition I didn't see him miss a beat.

"[It was] his first game of serious AFL football, I was pleased for him. He's had a great pre-season and worked really hard."

McKenna also said Karmichael Hunt's move to the midfield had gone smoothly, as had Nathan Bock's shift to the forward line.

One man who was delighted with his collective team's performance was Melbourne coach Mark Neeld.

Although not wanting to single anyone out, Neeld said the Demons' first performances under his coaching - a three-point loss to Gold Coast and three-point win over the Lions - were terrific.

"We got away unscathed injury-wise and I thought we played four consistent, competitive quarters," Neeld said.

"It was pleasing to win that second game and the manner that we did, albeit, I won't kid myself, the conditions lent itself to a close battle."

Neeld said 24-year-old rookie James Magner had thrown himself into the mix for an elevation to the senior list after an impressive night.

"He's been playing VFL and been a standout in that for half-a-dozen years and we rookie drafted him to add some strength to the midfield and he's done that on the training track," Neeld said.

"I'm going to elevate someone, but not this week. We'll trot them out against the Pies and see how they go."

He said fellow rookies Tom Couch and Daniel Nicholson also played well.

Michael Whiting covers AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting

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The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.