It’s fair to say that both the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast SUNS’ reserves sides got off to slow starts in last week’s opening round of the 2014 NEAFL season.

The Lions suffered a nine-goal defeat at the hands of the Sydney Swans last Sunday afternoon at the Gabba, with the Suns going down to fellow Gold Coasters Southport by 30 points.

Both sides get the opportunity to rectify their winless starts this Saturday when they face-off in a curtain-raiser to QClash 7 at Metricon Stadium.

The match is scheduled to commence at 11:50am – which is an earlier start time than usual – and all fans are encouraged to help cheer the reserves along to victory.

Fans can expect both the Lions and SUNS to field relatively young sides, with any top-ups likely to be sourced from their respective Academies.

Lions Reserves Coach Leigh Harding is predicting an exciting NEAFL clash on Saturday.

“We had 15-16 listed players in the reserves side last weekend, and I think Gold Coast had about the same, so we should have similar numbers again on Saturday” Harding told lions.com.au.

“They copped a couple of injuries, but should get a player or two back considering they had to fly an emergency over to Perth last week.

“They have a couple senior bodies in there with Karmichael Hunt and Tom Murphy, and so will we with Andrew Raines and Matt Maguire. But the majority of players out there will be young and developing kids who are still finding their way in the AFL.

Harding also said that being able to inject some of the young talent from the Hyundai Lions Academy was critical in the development of the athletes who form part of the program.  

“Last weekend we had the upper echelon of our Academy kids because they didn’t have any state responsibilities,” Harding said.

“Any chance they get to play against older players is beneficial for their development and good for their learning.”

James Polkinghorne is considered an outside chance to make his return from a knee injury against the Suns’ Reserves in Saturday’s curtain-raiser.