Brisbane Lions wary of improving Demons ahead of tomorrow's clash

ON paper, Brisbane's match against Melbourne on Sunday looks an easy kill for the Lions, but they aren't taking it lightly.

Daniel Rich

ON paper, it looks an easy kill for the Lions.

But nobody at Brisbane is taking tomorrow’s clash with Melbourne at the Gabba lightly.

After an insipid start to the season, the Demons have shown some fight mid-season with two wins from their last three starts.

But one of those victories was against GWS and the visitors will be without attacking spearhead Mitch Clark and the ever-dangerous Aaron Davey for the trip north.

The Lions also smashed the Dees by 41 points when the two teams met in Round 1 at the MCG.

A bubbling Brisbane is up and about and will be gunning for their sixth victory of 2012 today after putting the Bulldogs to the sword last weekend.

The Lions have not put together back-to-back wins this season but know success tomorrow is essential if they are serious about climbing out of the bottom of the AFL ladder and entering the conversation about finals prospects.

Midfielder Daniel Rich says Melbourne deserved respect and Brisbane was in no position to take any team lightly. He said the Round 1 thumping was irrelevant to proceedings at the Gabba tomorrow.

"They wouldn't have started the way they wanted to start the season but they've changed their game plan and game style a little bit and definitely shown they've been super competitive over the last six weeks so it's going to be a tough game,'' Rich said.

"He's definitely a danger player, Davey. And so is Mitch but I'm sure they've got good players that can come in and play a similar role.

"The focus during the week has been to keep doing what we've been doing over the last month and it has been paying off.

"The way we have been preparing and training during the week has been rolling into games. Hopefully we can keep that momentum from the last game.

"It's going to be important that we get off to a good start."

Brisbane went through a light session at the Gabba today to finalise preparations.

The only change to the side that humbled the Western Bulldogs is midfielder Jared Polec coming in for injured fullback Matt Maguire. Irishman Niall McKeever has shifted into centre half-back.