The Brisbane Lions NEAFL team have had two weeks to stew on their narrow loss to NT Thunder, after being afforded the Bye last round. 

The Round 18 defeat in Darwin was just Lions’ second of the NEAFL season, and has left the door slight ajar for Southport to potentially claim the minor premiership.

The Lions are still one win and percentage clear at the top of the Northern Conference, but face a tough assignment against the Sydney Swans Reserves this Saturday at Giffin Park, Coorparoo.

Lions NEAFL Coach Leigh Harding said the Bye had come at a good time for his team, who were probably in need of rest following the tough encounter against the Thunder.

“Before the Bye we had played six games straight, which was probably our longest stretch for the season,” Harding told lions.com.au.

“Darwin was quite sapping, so it gave us a chance to re-group before we play Sydney, who are also coming off a Bye.

“Even though we didn’t play (last weekend), we put the boys through a solid training session on Saturday morning and again on Monday morning, before they re-joined the main group on Wednesday.”

The Lions will face Sydney for the third time this season, having won the previous two encounters at the SCG.

“The first time we played the Swans, it was a ripping contest that went right down to the wire. The second time they were down on their numbers, so we had an advantage.

“This week it look like they’ll field 12-14 listed players, and we’ll be quite strong again with 16-18 guys available.

“But they have some quality listed players in their Reserves line-up, including some good solid backmen like Rhyce Shaw who will make it difficult for us to score.

“They also have some quality up forward with Mitch Morton and Tim Membrey, plus Gary Rohan is back from a broken leg and has added some class since his return.  

The Lions are also set to be bolstered by the potential return of off-season recruit Stefan Martin, who hasn’t played since undergoing ankle surgery after the senior team’s Round 4 match against North Melbourne.

“I’ve said Stefan’s a chance to play for a while now, but he hasn’t quite gotten there,” Harding said.

“But he looks very, very likely to play this Saturday. He’ll be named in the selected team and will just have to get through training on Friday.”

Lions fans can watch the NEAFL team play LIVE this Saturday from 1:30pm at Giffin Park, Coorparoo.