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Guy McKenna said Gold Coast SUNS would not be fooled by any late Brisbane Lions changes ahead of Saturday night's match at the Gabba, despite the shock inclusion of Brownlow medallist Simon Black.
Black has returned from a broken hand at least a week earlier than first thought after sustaining the injury in round two against Carlton.
In another selection curveball, the Lions have opted for just one ruckman, bringing back veteran Ben Hudson to replace Matthew Leuenberger (Achilles) and rookie Billy Longer (omitted).
But speaking after a light indoor run for the SUNS on Friday morning, coach McKenna said Gold Coast had covered its planning bases for any late changes.
"We went through with the boys today that he'll (Black) start in the middle," McKenna said.
"He's a fantastic clearance player, a fantastic player fullstop. He's a fairly important piece to their puzzle.
"Having said that, Hudson hasn’t had a lot of time out on the ground so to go in with one ruckman, potentially [Daniel] Merrett rucking [as a back-up] … I see Longer is still an emergency so there could easily be a quick change before the game with Black out and Longer in, so we've planned for what we think could be the likely scenarios."
McKenna said he hoped Black lined up for his 299th game, saying the SUNS would "find an extra leg" against quality opposition.
Although Lions captain Jonathan Brown will play his first QClash after missing both matches last year, McKenna said he was more worried about contests further up the ground.
"I certainly looked the midfield in the eyes today and said this game will be won, like most games, here, in around the stoppages and clearances," he said.
"Nathan Bock, Matthew Warnock, Tom Lynch, Jared Brennan, Campbell Brown, for them to survive on Jonathan Brown, they're going to need the ball in on their terms, not Jonathan Brown's terms.
"We just need to make sure we can back up our effort from the previous week."
In his long and distinguished playing career for West Coast, McKenna was a veteran of Derby contests against Fremantle, and said the QClash rivalry would evolve over time.
While he did not expect it to boil over, he said it was human nature for players to lift for a local rivalry.
"You'd like to think the game's moved on but anything can spark it," he said.
"It sparked in the Derbys because it got to a stage where younger brother grew up. They felt a bit more comfortable physically challenging us. I'm sure that's going to happen at some stage. It's about putting your head over the ball, that's the best sign of courage."
