As if Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss didn't have enough to worry about.

While still trying to fathom their last round loss to Melbourne, Voss must quickly hatch a plan to stop Sydney forward Daniel Bradshaw without key defender Daniel Merrett.

Voss on Tuesday said Merrett (hamstring) could be out for as long as three weeks after picking up the injury in their 50-point loss to the Demons which ended the Lions' unbeaten season start.

It's hardly music to Voss' ears with Bradshaw looming on the horizon.

Voss admitted Bradshaw's history with the Lions would dominate talk ahead of Saturday night's AFL clash at the SCG.

And no wonder - Bradshaw joined the Swans via the pre-season draft after being offered up as trade bait to Carlton by the Lions.

He has hit the ground running, bagging 17 majors to be the AFL's equal fourth-highest goal scorer for 2010.

Voss said it would be "weird" seeing Bradshaw line up in a Swans guernsey after 14 seasons, 222 games, a club-record 496 goals and two flags with the Lions.

"It absolutely will be. But his form has been on a steady incline which doesn't surprise me - I think he has added something to their group," he said.

"They've got a number of good forwards up there at the moment so that's going to be a good challenge for our defence.

"Especially when it was a defence that was under a lot of pressure last week and we weren't able to survive.

"We're not going to get anything different this weekend I wouldn't have thought."

Adding to Voss' headache is the Swans' record against the Lions, with Sydney winning 11 of the past 15 matches between the clubs.

The Lions at least broke a seven-year drought when they downed Sydney at the SCG in round 22 last year.

And then there's Swans champion Adam Goodes.

He has polled Brownlow votes in five of his past eight matches against Brisbane.

"He leads his team fantastically well and you see how much he runs - you almost pity the person lining up against him," Voss admitted.

The Lions coach hinted Joel Patfull would line up against Goodes with Matt Maguire expected to take on Bradshaw.

While trying to plan for ladder leaders Sydney, Voss still seemed to be scratching his head over their last-round loss to Melbourne.

"It was the way we went about it that was the most disappointing thing," he said.

"The guys knew that wasn't acceptable, it was bleedingly obvious in their face.

"I honestly hope it is a blip on the radar, because I didn't see that coming - we let ourselves down."

At least Voss received some good news on Tuesday.

Luke Power (hip), Jed Adcock (quad) and Cheynee Stiller (hamstring) are available while former Swan Amon Buchanan (thumb) and Justin Sherman (thigh) face fitness tests.

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