He knows what to expect from Brisbane but Carlton coach Mick Malthouse may yet receive a surprise judging by Lions vice-captain Tom Rockliff’s slip of the tongue on Friday.
In-form Lions halfback Mitch Golby appears in doubt for Saturday night’s Gabba AFL clash after Rockliff inadvertently revealed Sam Docherty would play, despite not being named in Brisbane’s initial 22.
Debutant Sam Michael and Josh Green were originally named to replace suspended defenders Daniel Merrett and Justin Clarke.
But it seems Docherty is in the mix after Golby was a training no-show on Friday following Rockliff’s slip-up.
“We’re pretty confident in the two blokes coming in,” Rockliff said.
“Sam Michael gets his chance which is pretty exciting and Sam Docherty, he’ll add a bit of run off the backline for us.”
It will give Malthouse something else to think about as he braces for another fighting Lions effort.
The Lions thrashed Carlton by 41 points in the NAB Cup grand final at Etihad Stadium in March.
But that form was not sighted again until last round’s shock win over Essendon at the same venue.
Still, Malthouse expected more of the same from Brisbane.
“To beat Essendon at home is an enormous task and they’ve done that and they play their home ground very well so we’ve got a massive job in front of us,” Malthouse said in Melbourne.
“It wasn’t a massive win – it was a hard-fought win.
“To be able to pull away and actually win the game …tells you about their form in the other way.
“They are a good side. I know the figures don’t say as many wins as the teams in the eight but they are a side that are young, enthusiastic.”
Rockliff revealed they would largely stick with the gameplan that earned them the NAB Cup pre-season title.
“I think we’ll go about it the same way. We’ll look to shut their ball movement down and look to counter attack and give our forwards a chance to kick goals,” he said.
It will be no surprise to Malthouse.
“You can’t dismiss it, you can’t just be flippant about it,” Malthouse said of the Lions’ NAB Cup triumph.
“That was a very, very good victory by a side that we play tomorrow.
“They’ve got a lot of players that caused us a lot of trouble in the NAB Cup final so that’s what we’ve got to counter.”
Brisbane (14th; 3-5 record) line up against Carlton (10th; 4-4) fighting to stay in the top eight mix as speculation swirls around their coach Michael Voss.
“I don’t have any opinion of Michael Voss other than that his side play desperately hard football for him,” Malthouse said.
“It’s the way he played and teams end up emulating their coach and I would expect nothing different and our boys would expect nothing different.”