Discarded Carlton forward Brendan Fevola has been a standout for Brisbane during the Lions' pre-season and is set to give the side a dynamic offence, according to teammates.

Fevola, traded to the Lions after a number of indiscretions with the Blues, has re-invented himself as a hard-working and inspirational member of the side, star midfielder Justin Sherman said.

Sherman said Brisbane had moved to a new level in the pre-season, a standard which will undergo its first test in Sunday's NAB Cup opener against the Western Bulldogs in Canberra.

"Fev's been brilliant," Sherman said. "He's added a lot of energy to the group.

"He's a very enthusiastic sort of bubbly person so he definitely brings a nice bubbly culture to the club.

"He's fitted right in, he's been training really hard. Talking to him personally, he said it's the most running and stuff he's ever done," Sherman said.

"Fev has kicked 80 goals and if he can improve and be super-fit this year I think he can kick a few more.

"There's no doubt he's really at the top of his game at the moment and we're really looking forward to getting some match practice into him on Sunday," he said.

Sherman rejected the notion that the Lions' forward line would be too heavily weighted with year with Fevola joining giant forward Jonathan Brown in the attack.

"Obviously we want to get the ball into those guys as much as we can but we also want to stick to our game plan.

"As part of that Browny plays a natural centre half-forward role and pushes up the ground with his great endurance where Fev has the full-forward role so I don't think there's too much confusion there at all.

"They both play different positions and they've both been working really well at training on their leading patterns so when Browny comes back, maybe for the last NAB Cup game, you'll definitely see two guys on the same page," Sherman said.

The Bulldogs will go into the match without star recruit Barry Hall and a string of injured players, including skipper Brad Johnson (achilles), Jason Akermanis and Nathan Eagleton (knee) and Will Minson (foot).

But spearhead Robert Murphy and Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney are now free of knee problems and are set to play.

Brisbane recruit Xavier Clarke remains sidelined with the serious knee injury he suffered last year while Brown, Simon Black and Luke Power have been left out.

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