BROWNLOW Medallist Simon Black has been ruled out of Sunday's clash with Carlton at the Gabba, but Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews can only see a bright future for his rebuilding AFL side.

Black hyperextended his knee in Brisbane's 44-point victory over Melbourne, which kept the Lions' slim finals hopes alive.

He was to be given until the last minute to prove his fitness for Sunday's clash with Carlton at the Gabba, but was ruled out on Friday afternoon by coach Leigh Matthews.

If Matthews was sweating on co-captain Black's fitness, it didn't show.

The coach said the Lions had shown enough improvement in their back-to-back wins over West Coast and the Demons to convince him their "evolution" into a finals force may be completed as early as next year.

The four-time premiership-winning coach said Hawthorn's remarkable 2007 resurgence showed how quickly a side could turn their fortunes around.

Hawthorn - armed with the youngest list in the AFL - are one of the season's success stories to date.

They have stormed to second on the AFL ladder with a 10-5 record, already ahead of last year's total of nine wins, with seven 2007 regular season rounds left.

Matthews is hoping for a similar turnaround for three-time premiers Brisbane (6-8-1 record) after missing the finals for the last two seasons.

"That general evenness over the competition because of the salary cap and the draft ... the difference between the best and worst is a bit less," Matthews said.

"So the ability to go from up to down or vice versa is just extraordinary."

Matthews was spoiled for choice despite Black's injury with classy midfielders Scott Harding and Richard Hadley on standby for their co-captain, Harding eventually getting the nod.

"Last year we were at 70 per cent capacity. We became a real chopping block for the last bit of the year," Matthews said of his side's constant changes due to injury.

"Hopefully we can keep our team together now. I think we've had a good side the last couple of weeks.

"It's been a pretty optimistic, positive few weeks in the club's evolution so hopefully we can continue."

Youngster Mitchell Clark was named as an emergency, despite kicking eight goals in the reserves in his comeback from a quad injury last week.

"He's been ill this week which has really complicated things," Matthews said.

"He hasn't trained this week because he's had gastro, vomiting."