BRISBANE Lions co-captain Jonathan Brown said on Thursday he was extremely confident his team could prove itself worthy of a top-four spot over the coming fortnight.

The Lions play the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday and Adelaide at the Gabba in round 13, and speaking ahead of his 150th game, Brown said the matches would tell whether the Lions were contenders or pretenders.

After four successive wins they are locked firmly in the top eight but have not been seriously tested since losing to Geelong prior to the Hall of Fame Tribute match.

Brown said the Bulldogs were going as well as any team in the competition.

"I think we're ready for that challenge but how we go against those sides will tell us whether we are capable enough to beat the sides around the top four or whether we're with the also-rans. It's a big fortnight for us, probably a challenge we're ready to take," he said.

"I'm really confident. I think we've got the talent to be a good side. We've had better luck with injuries so far and that's going to be the key all year, keep most of our guys out on the paddock. I think if we can do that we can challenge those sides.

"We've already shown we've got close to Geelong and Hawthorn and I think we're playing better footy now, but the Bulldogs are probably going better than anyone in the competition at the moment, so if we can get over them on Saturday we really think we're thereabouts."

Brown admitted the availability of injured quartet Ashley McGrath, Josh Drummond, Jason Roe and his goal-kicking partner Daniel Bradshaw would have been useful in trying to beat the Dogs,.

While last year's Coleman Medalist said he was looking forward to playing on the MCG because it was a big ground and "good for forwards" he said the battle at the other end might determine the outcome.

With his triple premiership teammate Jason Akermanis in red-hot form for the Dogs, and Brad Johnson a constant Lions nemesis, Brown said the back half would have to be on its game.

"I think they're leading the competition in scoring so it's a big challenge for the defence and also the rest of the side to try and block them up a little bit," he said.

"Aker's in great form so I'm not sure who's going to get the match-up there but we can't have him going out and kicking five or six goals.

"There's a lot of goal scoring options there so the guys are going to have to have one of their better games defensively, I would have thought.

"But I think their forward line suits our defence as well, so we haven't got a huge defence in terms of height so I reckon our guys are capable of certainly being able to match those guys."

Brown downplayed the significance of playing against Akermanis after the former Lions star split from the club at the end of the 2006 season, but acknowledged his former teammate was playing sensational football.

"It's going to be important that we shut him down because as we know he's probably one of the greatest offensive players when he gets the ball in his hands to have ever played the game."