Simon Black fit to take on the Blues

BRISBANE great Simon Black says his troublesome knee is up to a full game of football against Carlton at Etihad Stadium tomorrow night.

BRISBANE great Simon Black says his troublesome knee is up to a full game of football against Carlton at Etihad Stadium tomorrow night.

Black was a shock selection as the substitute in last week's loss to Richmond with the Lions concerned about the wear and tear on hIm.

The Brownlow medallist showed his class with 15 touches in a little over a quarter of football after being injected in the third term.

Black says his knee is in much better condition and is hopeful of avoiding the lime green vest against the Blues.

"I'm much better placed this week than I was this time last week," he said.

"I didn't train at all last week but I trained yesterday (Wednesday) and it feels good today.

"Having taken that load of it by not playing too much last week has helped me a lot.

"I'd like to play as much of the game as possible. It warms up OK so hopefully I get that chance."

Black was at the Jetts gym in Kallangur yesterday throwing his support behind Paul Reis, who is aiming to scale Mount Kilimanjaro to raise more than $250,000 for prostate cancer research at the Mater Hospital.

Reis and his team of 25 trekkers have a final fundraising event at the gym next Saturday.

Black said the battle in the midfield against Carlron, who need to win to stay in the finals hunt, would be crucial with the likes of Marc Murphy and Brock McLean filling the void left by suspended Chris Judd.

"They've got so much speed on the outside so we need to beat them on the inside," Black said.

The Lions made four changes to the side beaten by Richmond with Matt Maguire, Ryan Lester, Claye Beams and Rohan Bewick coming into the squad.

Patrick Karnezis, Jack Crisp and Elliot Yeo were omitted and Josh Drummond was rested because of general soreness.

Meanwhile, Gold Coast have made six forced changes for the wooden spoon showdown with GWS at Metricon Stadium tomorrow.

Karmichael Hunt (shoulder), Michael Rischitelli (knee), Luke Russell (shoulder), Zac Smith (ankle), Dion Prestia (hamstring) and Sam Day (foot) all suffered injuries in last week's loss to Melbourne.

They will be replaced by Queensland rookie Jackson Allen, Aaron Hall, Steve May, Kyal Horsley, Danny Stanley and Jeremy Taylor.

The Giants made six changes to the side that stunned Port Adelaide last Saturday.

Israel Folau is an inclsion.