Lions coach Michael Voss has put the heat on his numerous young cubs to stand up and demand AFL senior action in Friday night's NAB Cup opener at Etihad Stadium.

With a host of senior positions up for grabs following a forgettable 2010, Voss on Monday announced Brisbane's shortened pre-season matches against St Kilda and Essendon would be true auditions.

Captain Jonathan Brown and fellow team leaders Simon Black, Luke Power, Jed Adcock and Josh Drummond will all be rested, leaving Daniel Merrett to skipper a greenhorn squad.

Far from a cobweb duster, Voss said the primary focus was to discover which rising youngsters and fringe players could thrive in senior football.

"We want to be able to find players," he said. "We want to be able to put the younger players out there and see who wants to put their hand up for a position in this side.

"For those guys coming in there's a genuine opportunity for them and that's exciting for them and hopefully they reflect that in the way they play."

Voss, under pressure coming into the final year of his three-season contract after bombing to 13th in 2010, has a solid idea about his defence but positions were far more clouded up the park.

As well as being without their leading men, the Lions are missing Gold Coast signings Jared Brennan and Michael Rischitelli, while Brendan Fevola isn't expected to play in 2011.

"For us we have got a few of the unknowns and we want to know who are the knowns and who want be part of that midfield brigade," Voss said.

"We've got spots available in that forward half also, there's plenty of opportunities for them.

"I look at Todd Banfield as the perfect case study last year - he wasn't into our 29 last year coming into pre-season.

"He got his opportunity and played really well, had something unique about him that he offered our group and then we couldn't think about what our team was like without him."

Claye Beams, Bryce Retzlaff, Rohan Bewick,Patrick Karnezis and rookie Josh Dyson are yet to debut for the Lions but all were mentioned by Voss as round one prospects when Brisbane kicks off their season against Fremantle on March 26.

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