Lions unhappy with AFL's call on final venue Collingwood's Nathan Brown chases Brisbane's Jonathan Brown in the NAB Cup at Etihad Stadium Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun THOUGH not entirely happy with playing at Etihad Stadium, Brisbane will attempt to win its first pre-season premiership when it plays Carlton in Friday night's NAB Cup grand final. The Lions were told by the AFL last Wednesday that they would not be hosting the grand final at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast -- the Gabba is unavailable due to cricket commitments -- before their 34-point win over Collingwood at Etihad on Saturday. The league opted for the Melbourne Docklands venue for financial reasons over the promotion of the code in southeast Queensland. Etihad Stadium and tenant club Carlton offer the certainty of a bigger crowd during the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Brisbane coach Michael Voss was not happy with the decision, which has deprived the Lions of a potential membership surge on the back of winning their final three home-and-away games last year. "The NRL has already started their season and we've got two Queensland teams that aren't playing in Queensland this weekend, and we haven't had a home match at all, and we're not going to," he said. You can read into that what you will, but clearly it's not acceptable. We're in the northern outpost trying to grow the game. We've missed a chance to grow our supporter base against another code that happens to be the dominant No 1 code in our state. The winner will take $202,000 from the NAB Cup series, while the runner-up will pocket $100,000. Brisbane general manager of football operations Dean Warren said his club was looking at the big picture after being the only club to win all four NAB Cup games. "We're disappointed, but we understand," he said. It's just a pity that we've had no footy in the Brisbane market all year. But the positive is that it does give us an opportunity to play twice at Etihad Stadium before the start of the premiership season. Three of the Lions' first eight games this year are at Etihad, starting with their season-opener against the Western Bulldogs on March 30. The Lions are hopeful, but not confident, that their best big man, Matthew Leuenberger, will be available against the Blues, after he withdrew on the weekend with a lower-calf problem. "It's a bit of a setback, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that he gets up this week," Warren said. Leuenberger played a half in his comeback match the previous weekend. He has been sidelined since round three last season because of an achilles injury. Jonathan Brown is expected to play in consecutive weeks after being described by Warren as "a bit scratchy" in his first hit-out for the season against the Magpies. After 16 games in his second season last year, Rohan Bewick is assured of a round-one start on the back of a solid four-goal performance across half-forward last weekend, as is Josh Green, who played 12 games last year, with most as a starting substitute. Elliott Yeo, who played eight games in his debut season last year, is another who looks to have come on following his second pre-season preparation and is in line to play in defence against the Bulldogs this month. The Lions' tall-forward options appear to be a little better this season around veteran Brown, who could be joined by targets Aaron Cornelius and former Melbourne key-position player Stefan Martin.