The prospect of a twin towers forward line featuring Harris Andrews and Eric Hipwood is getting nearer for Brisbane – that's 404cm of trouble. 

While injuries might dictate where Andrews spends most of his time, coach Chris Fagan has shown an eagerness to trial the defensive rock in the forward 50 during the pre-season.

On Saturday Andrews will get his first chance against real opposition when he captains the Lions against Gold Coast in a practice match at Metricon Stadium. 

"I'm not sure what the plan is for this weekend," Andrews told reporters following Wednesday morning's training session.

"It's obviously exciting.

"I played a little bit forward in the Under-18s for Queensland and when I first got to the Club I was training as a forward.

"I think we had a couple of injuries down back and they threw me down there and since then I've been there. 

"It's been good the last couple of weeks to dedicate time to the forward craft and work on my game." 

Andrews played four quarters of the Club's recent intra-club stationed alongside Hipwood in the forward line.

But the hitch in Brisbane's plans could be its injury list. 

In positive news, Darcy Gardiner was freely running laps for the first time since injuring his PCL four weeks ago.

"It's big for Queensland footy and the Academy to see two graduates come through and potentially play in the forward line together," Andrews said.

"Eric's done a really good job the last couple of years playing forward and being the main target down there.

"Hopefully I can make the job a little bit easier for him and he can get up the ground and use his assets, agility and speed.

"I'm really excited at the proposition of working alongside Eric and Charlie (Cameron)."

Andrews will captain the team this Saturday in the absence of Dayne Zorko who is on AFLX duty.

"It's a huge privilege," he said. "I'm pretty excited to go out there and see how my pep talk goes before the game. I can't wait."

The teams will play six 20-minute sections with the intention of giving every fit player on their respective lists game-time.

For the latest updates during Saturday's practice match follow the Brisbane Lions on Twitter.