BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews was adamant co-captains Simon Black and Jonathan Brown would take their places in the side to take on West Coast tonight, after both trained solidly yesterday afternoon.

With Eagles coach John Worsfold by his side for the joint media conference, Matthews said Black would most likely start the match from the interchange bench.

"We always thought Jonathan would play and he trained today, he's OK," Matthews said. "We didn't think Black would play, to be honest, but he seemed to be OK during the session. He'll probably start off the field, I suspect, because we've planned the game without him and we won't alter that, but it's good to have him in our 22, because we didn't think we would."

Brown received a corked hip and Black a damaged shoulder during last week's shootout against Essendon, with both running out the match. "If you finish the game OK, most of the time you'll start the following week's game the same and he did that last week," Matthews said of Black. "He's been given the all-clear unless he pulls up badly from what he did today."

The Eagles have a strong winning record over the Lions at the Gabba, but will field a very young side and their midfield has been further depleted by the loss of the suspended Daniel Kerr and the omission of veteran Michael Braun.

Worsfold said it was unlikely that Braun, who will retire at the end of this season, had played his last game for the club. "We're quite short on numbers at the moment with some of our players that are out for the remainder of the year, so Michael certainly could be required," he said.

"He's battling along. His body's getting towards the end of his career, so we're all aware of that. I think he's still got the ability to play some good football but not consistently, not backing up week after week, so we're going to help him get through that.

"There's a lot of young players out there, but they bring enthusiasm and have a dip and that's what we're asking for … We'd struggle to get much younger in terms of games and age than we are this week, so that makes it tough, no doubt about that, but we'll go out and play to our absolute best."