Winless Brisbane will be sweating on the availability of several key midfielders ahead of Saturday’s Queensland AFL derby against high-flying Gold Coast.

Skipper Tom Rockliff is likely to miss at least one more match with a calf injury, although Daniel Rich is expected to return after being a late withdrawal from Sunday’s 69-point loss to Geelong due to a sore hamstring.

The combative Mitch Robinson was among the Lions’ best players in the big loss to the Cats, only to blot his copybook late in the last quarter by being reported for engaging in rough conduct against Cats skipper Joel Selwood.

“He has incidents does Mitch, but I didn’t see that one,” said Brisbane coach Justin Leppitsch.

The Lions did not lack for effort against the Cats, without ever threatening to cause a boilover.

“It was a bit frustrating with the turnovers and we got smashed around the centre bounce today which was a different issue,” said Leppitsch.

“But most of our frustration comes from our use out of the back half of the ground.

“It was a bit of deja vu with our inaccuracy as well.”

Former Cats Josh Walker and Allen Christensen were largely peripheral figures for the Lions on Sunday, although Leppitsch noted they weren’t alone in that regard.

“You’ve also got to give credit to Geelong,” he said.

“I thought they outmuscled us and used that advantage they had, particularly through the centre bounce and front-half turnovers.

“They completely mauled us in those two numbers.

“Also, their ability to stick a tackle and also put us under pressure, which we didn’t handle very well.”