All eyes may be on former AFL bad boy Brendan Fevola but Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss has warned his young brigade are ready to throw their weight around in the coming NAB Cup.

Fevola will make his first appearance for the Lions after being named in an extended 29-strong squad for their pre-season opener against Western Bulldogs at Canberra on Sunday.

While Fevola's arrival significantly boosts the Lions' arsenal for 2010, Voss said his young guns were also ready to fire.

"The noticeable difference is that the skinny kids aren't skinny kids anymore," Voss said in Brisbane on Friday.

"They've certainly whacked on the weight and they will be able to throw their weight around and be able to mix it with the bigger, larger bodies which is what we have worked on in the pre-season."

Among them are 19-year-old Jack Redden - who has piled on 8kg in the pre-season - as well as James Polkinghorne, Tom Rockliff and Sam Sheldon.

Their improvement has ensured winning won't be everything when they line up against the team that knocked them out of the 2009 AFL finals race.

"Results are important but at this time of the year it might be secondary to some of the other things that we want to achieve," Voss said.

"We want to see how physically players have become better and hopefully become better players - unlike the season proper there are other things we want to get out of the game."

While the cubs have been tipped for big things by Voss, there was no doubt who everyone wanted to see in action on Sunday - Fevola.

Even his young teammates sounded like excited fans when the disgraced Blues forward's name was mentioned ahead of their NAB Cup opener.

"He's good to have around. He's a pretty special player and hopefully he can kick a whole heap of goals for us," Sheldon told the Lions website.

"It will be an awesome feeling to be running down with those two blokes (Fevola, captain Jonathan Brown) in front (during the AFL season).

"He's very positive at training and he's really good on the track."

Fevola is one of nine new faces in the preliminary squad.

Brent Staker (West Coast), Andrew Raines (Richmond) and Amon Buchanan (Sydney) will also don Lions colours for the first time.

Brown, vice-captains Luke Power and Simon Black, Ash McGrath and Josh Drummond are among the notable absentees.

The squad will be trimmed to 26 ahead of the match.

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