The Brisbane Lions Reserves head to Sunday this Saturday to face the in-form side of the NEAFL competition, the UWS Giants.

The all-conquering Greater Western Sydney reserves side has been almost unstoppable in recent weeks, and currently sits second on the NEAFL ladder.

Only last week the Giants easily disposed of NEAFL ladder-leaders the Sydney Swans Reserves by 43 points. But the final margin flattered the Swans, given their counterparts were wasteful in front of goal with just 10 goals from 31 shots.

It’s little surprise to see the Giants performing so well in lower grade, considering their side boasts eight former first-round draft selections.

The Giants have now won their past five games by an average margin of 96 points – with their only real challenge coming against the Lions just two weeks ago at Giffin Park.

On that occasion, the Lions actually led by three points at the final break, before being overrun in the fourth quarter to eventually lose by 21 points.

Innovation & Development Manager Gary O’Donnell expects this Saturday will be an even greater challenge considering the Lions are travelling and will be fielding a less experienced side.

“The Giants are flying. They smashed Sydney by 50 points last week and most of their team is listed,” O’Donnell said.

“With a couple of injuries, we’ll have a few players missing. I envision we’ll have around 12-13 listed players, with the remaining 9-10 top-ups likely to be kids that haven’t played much with us.

“It will be a big challenge. Hopefully our listed players are predictable and lead from the front.”

The Lions will have some experience in the form of Brent Moloney, Mitch Golby, Andrew Raines, and Matthew Leuenberger, who will be largely responsible for setting the tone for the young team.

But despite having matched the Giants just two weeks ago, O’Donnell says that promising encounter won’t give his side any sort of advantage this time around.

“It won’t help at all,” he said.

“We know they’re very tall – they have 4-5 skyscrapers (Tom Boyd, Rory Lobb, Jonathan Giles, and Tom Downie).

“We matched them last time, but given we’re now a couple of players down in height department, it will be interesting to see how we go.”

The Lions will face UWS Giants at Spotlesss Stadium in Sydney from 10:30am as a curtain-raiser tow Greater Western Sydney’s senior AFL match against Adelaide.