Brisbane Lions fans can head down the Pacific Highway a little earlier this Saturday to watch the Club’s Reserves side take on the Suns in a QClash curtain-raiser at Metricon Stadium from 12:30pm.

Reserves Coach Nathan Clarke is expecting a tough assignment against a Suns outfit that seems to have hit form at the right time of the season under the guidance of former Lions triple-premiership player Shaun Hart.

“They’ll be very strong,” Clarke said on Friday.

“According to the team sheet, they’ll have 19 listed players which is good because it means that our boys will be in for a red hot test.”

In the last meeting between the two sides back in Round 12, the Lions Reserves set up their 22-point win with a commanding second quarter at H&A Oval in Broadbeach.

But Clarke says things have certainly changed over the past five weeks.

“They’re going a bit better now than they were back then, and we’re probably going to be a bit more undermanned than we have been in recent weeks,” he said.

“We’ll also need to snap a pretty bad losing streak at Metricon Stadium.”

“We played them down there late last year and they gave us a nice old touch up. And they did the same to us again when we played them there earlier this year.”

The Reserves will regain the services of Patrick Karnezis, who was omitted from the senior team last night, as well as Jesse O’Brien who will be eased back into action after missing last week with groin tightness.

Ruckman Matthew Leuenberger, however, is at least another week away from making his much-anticipated on-field return.

“Leuey won’t play. The original plan was to get some minutes into him this week, but he’s just not quite ready - maybe in the next week or two,” Clarke said.

“But Jesse is going to have a run around and test out his groin.”

With both Leuenberger and Longer likely to be sitting on the sidelines, the ruck responsibility looks likely to sit primarily with Rookie Sam Michael.

“Sam will get his fair crack in the ruck this week, but we’ll also move him around the ground at times as well,” Clarke said.

“Given Gold Coast have a fair amount of tall players at their disposal, he will no doubt have his work cut out for him this week.”

“Jordan Lisle will probably continue to spend most of his time up forward this week. With Ace (Aaron Cornelius) playing seniors and Retzy (Bryce Retzlaff) gone for the season, we really need him in attack.”

Clarke also hinted that fans can expect to see more of Sam Docherty running through the middle.

“He’ll probably spend more time in midfield,” he said.

“The Gold Coast have some really good players like Sam Iles and Kyal Horsley in there, so it’s a good chance for Sam to test himself against those bigger midfield bodies.”

The Brisbane Lions Reserves will play Gold Coast at 12:30pm this Saturday 21 July at Metricon Stadium.