BRISBANE Lions big man Mitch Clark has shed weight and boosted his running capacity in a bid to become a more mobile forward option in 2011.

The 23-year-old will spend more time than ever in attack this year after being tasked with the responsibility of filling the void left by sacked spearhead Brendan Fevola.

And, he is entering the season on a high having improved his fitness and reduced his size in a bid to increase his agility and endurance.

"With the new substitute rule coming in, I think it will benefit me with having more time on the ground, which is what I want," he said.

"I'm looking forward to building relationships with the guys up there and hopefully I can contribute solidly and hold my position down there."

The West Australian trained with the forward group all pre-season given the future of Fevola was in question.

Now with Fevola gone and Jonathan Brown working his way back from a knee infection, Clark said he expected to play predominantly in attack with spurts of supporting Matthew Leuenberger in the ruck.

He said having a directive to play mainly one position had enabled him to hone his goalkicking and marking skills over the pre-season.

"It allows me to train for that role a bit more and just focus all my energies into that role," he said.

"I know that throughout the year I might be asked to go and fill different roles and if I need to do that for the side, I'm happy to do that."

He's also looking forward to the new challenge he believes will make him more influential. 

"If I can grab a hold of that centre half forward or full forward spot, and spend a bit of time in the ruck as well, it will be good and enable me to be a bit more in the action," he said.

With an eye to the future, Clark has also just started studying a Bachelor of Commerce degree part-time, which he expects will take him six years to complete.

"It's a bit different. It was my first day this week and my first couple of subjects are accounting and marketing," he said.

"Footy's not going to last forever so I wanted to add something else and uni seemed like a good idea."

Mitch Clark is a $313,400 ruckman in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.