THE Brisbane Lions are embracing their biggest atch in three seasons against Collingwood on Saturday night, but coach Michael Voss says he'll still take a round one win over a NAB Cup Final.

The Lions have been the pre-season surprise packets, winning three from three and setting themselves up with a virtual elimination final against the undefeated Magpies at Etihad Stadium with the winner almost sure to progress to the following week's final.

The only other undefeated teams are table-topping Carlton, who play at Adelaide on Friday, and fourth-placed North Melbourne, who travel to Geelong on Saturday.

Voss said winning was important, but no more so than playing a quality opposition at a venue that they will return to three weeks later for round one against the Western Bulldogs.

Since losing the 2004 Grand Final to Port Adelaide the Lions have been starved of success, making the finals just  the once in 2009, along with the 2007 pre-season decider which they ultimately lost to Carlton.

"We haven't played in a lot of big matches, and we know in the big scheme of things that it's pre-season and we've got our eyes firmly set on round one," Voss said.

"But the carrot is we play this week and if there's an opportunity on the end of that to play in a NAB Cup Final, we'll take it."

In the past five years every team that has made the pre-season final has gone on to make the top eight in the premiership season.

Voss said his focus remained "absolutely, 100 per cent" on winning round one.

"(The home-and-away season opener) is always more important. If you lose, there's a lot of predictions that get made on that Monday post round one," he said.

"It's quite amazing when you do all this great lead-up work, but if you don't get those four points everything goes into a spin again."

The Lions will likely play their strongest possible team against the Magpies, including unleashing co-captain Jonathan Brown for the first time in 2013.

Daniel Merrett, Joel Patfull, Daniel Rich and Ashley McGrath will also come back in after being rested in the three-point win over GWS on Saturday night.

The Lions will have travelled in successive weeks, and Voss said if they manage to progress to the final then the club would push hard for the match to be played in Queensland.

With the Gabba still being required for cricket duties a possible outcome could be to play at Metricon Stadium.