Battling Brisbane are bracing for Geelong to be back at their absolute best on Sunday with Joel Selwood to make a "huge difference" in his AFL return from suspension.

The Cats have missed their premier midfielder more than expected in surprise back-to-back losses to Essendon and West Coast, and the Lions are wary about them rediscovering their mojo at the Gabba.

Even though Selwood was sidelined for the past four weeks for striking Hawthorn's Brent Guerra, Brisbane vice-captain Jed Adcock said the Geelong captain-in-waiting would be the man to tag among Geelong's stars.

"He makes a huge difference, a huge difference," Adcock said on Thursday.

"I would think out of the Geelong players that, even though it's a classy midfield, he's probably the one that can influence the game both ways, attacking and defensively.

"You've also got Stevie Johnson, (Joel) Corey, and (James) Kelly has been playing well this year. They've got a lot of guys and you can't go to them all, but I would think if you're going to go to one it'd be him.

"Selwood adds a fair bit of grunt and class to their midfield but it will still come down to us and how we play."

The Cats have been preparing for the clash on the Gold Coast and coach Chris Scott agreed Selwood would certainly make life easier in the former Lions hardnut's return to the Gabba.

"If he's not our best player, he's in our top couple of players," Scott said.

"Very few sides can cover that completely."

However, Adcock did not believe it was beyond his 15th-placed side to deliver second-placed Geelong's third straight defeat.

A one-week ban to Geelong ruckman Brad Ottens and the return of versatile Lions big man Mitch Clark (ankle) does give the home side an advantage in the ruck where Matthew Leuenberger continues to impress.

Looking for just their fourth win of the year, Brisbane have added to their experience and height by recalling Brent Staker, who has played two matches in the reserves following LARS surgery on the knee he injured in round one.

Adcock admitted the Lions had dissected where the Bombers and Eagles had brought Geelong undone and would attack the same areas in a game where skipper Jonathan Brown needs just two majors to crack the 500-goal milestone.

"I think a couple of teams have opened the eyes of the other teams of what you can do to beat them and what does work and what doesn't work," he said.

"If we can put our emphasis on that then maybe we're a good shot."

The Lions named Staker in their 25-man squad late Thursday along with Clark, Amon Buchanan and youngster Jesse O'Brien.

Midfielder Rohan Bewick, called up from the emergency list in the loss to Hawthorn in Launceston, was omitted.

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