First-round draft pick Jared Polec and mature-age rookie ruckman Broc McCauley are set to make AFL debuts for a Lions outfit which has vowed to overcome crippling injuries to Jonathan Brown and Brent Staker.

Brisbane on Thursday elevated 24-year-old McCauley to the senior list in an indication he would play against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

With Mitch Clark a natural replacement for captain Brown in the goalsquare, McCauley is poised to play as a back-up ruckman to Matthew Leuenberger and forward target.

South Australian Polec was chosen at No.5 in last year's draft and has made his mark during the pre-season with the Lions to be named in a their 25-man squad.

With Luke Power returning from a back injury and a number of young midfielders impressing in the two-point loss to Fremantle, the Woodville-West Torrens product is not certain to line up against the Bulldogs.

Brisbane have already played the Bulldogs once this year, suffering a 12-goal pre-season loss in Melbourne but makeshift captain Jed Adcock said they had since improved "a mile".

Adcock played down the devastating injuries to Brown (facial fractures) and Staker (knee reconstruction) and vowed they won't bleed the Lions of their competitiveness in 2011.

While the loss of Brown has been seen as the end to the club's slim finals chances, Adcock pointed to the fact the star forward did not appear at all in the pre-season when the Lions finished with strong wins over Melbourne and Gold Coast.

"The Melbourne game and Gold Coast game were really strong games for us and we played the way we wanted to play," Adcock said.

"On the weekend we felt we played pretty well and should have won the match but let it slip ourselves at the end of the game so we're not far off the mark where we want to be.

"Browny wasn't out there for those practice matches and we found that we got a lot of midfield goals and played a bit smaller in patches and allowed us to run the ball and move the ball pretty quick.

Matt Maguire has overcome a quad problem to replace Staker in defence, while Tom Collier has also been added to the squad.

Adcock said there was no reason why Brisbane could not surprise the pundits.

"Our main goal week in, week out (is to be competitive) and make sure that we go down swinging and no one is going to run over the top of us," he said.

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