BRISBANE is as hungry as ever, motivated to give teammates not involved in last year's premiership a taste of the ultimate success, says midfield ace Hugh McCluggage.

The Lions enter Saturday night's preliminary final against Collingwood at the MCG a vastly different outfit from the one that thumped Sydney 12 months ago to claim the flag.

Levi Ashcroft, Sam Marshall and Ty Gallop are all first-year players set for a place on the big stage, while Oscar McInerney and Darcy Gardiner missed last year's premiership through injury.

Bruce Reville also came back into the 23 against Gold Coast with co-captain Lachie Neale (calf) out injured.

Speaking on Tuesday morning ahead of the club's fourth straight preliminary final, McCluggage said the Lions were highly motivated.

"We saw with Oscar coming back into the team (against the Suns), not just for him, but for the group, it provided a lot of energy," he said.

"It's a little bit of extra motivation to go all the way for those boys.

"They'll be on edge, as the rest of us are, that although we won it last year, it just doesn't seem like it's enough.

"You always want to go again and keep chasing.

"We've been hunted this year as the reigning premiers, and we feel like we've been able to battle through all the adversity we've had this year.

"We've put ourselves in a position to play against the other three final sides, which is really exciting."

The last time Brisbane met Collingwood in September was the epic 2023 Grand Final, won by the Magpies by four points.

McCluggage said although that was a disappointing result, it wouldn't be a team motivator this time around.

"This is a new year," he said.

"They're a really experienced team. They like to use the ball through the corridor.

"You can't get sucked into running around aimlessly. You have to be quick to react, you have to be switched on at all times.

"If you're just a step off, you'll get shown up, as we saw against the Cats."