It's a question new Brisbane Lions midfielder Dayne Beams has never had to ponder but if one of the mouth watering match ups materialises against his former Collingwood teammates on Saturday night, he knows who he'd want to line up on.

"Swanny would be good for a laugh, so I might stand next to Swanny," he joked.

Beams said he hadn't yet contacted his former teammates ahead of their first reunion in opposing colours but he might start the ball rolling on the banter ahead of Saturday night's match.

"The texts haven't started yet but I might start that tonight, get it going a little bit," he said.

"I spent six years there so I've got some really good friendships not only within the playing group but guys outside the playing group.

"It's going to be interesting, I'm really looking forward to it, it's exciting."

Beams has already made an impact at the Lions, one of their most damaging through Brisbane's pre-season and the side is riding a wave of external optimism into round one.

Brisbane will go in as surprise favourites for the round one clash and those odds could yet shorten after the provisional suspension of Collingwood's Lachie Keeffe and Josh Thomas for testing positive to a banned substance.

There's been an intense spotlight on the Magpies and their coach Nathan Buckley in the pre-season but Beams said he hadn't really paid close attention to the progress of his old side.

"I'm a guy who doesn't watch too much footy other than knowing where my club is at," he said.

"I haven't seen too much of their pre-season form to be honest but last year, in the back half of last year, they struggled a bit as a club and they'll be looking to bounce back."

While the bookies are on their side, big question mark for the Lions has been over their lack of experienced key forward targets.

Beams backed the side's small forwards and midfield to support their young talls, like Michael Close and Dan McStay

"I guess it's hard for those guys as well because they are young," he said.

"Our small forward line's one of the better small forward lines in the competition so for Dan McStay and Michael Close, these sorts of guys, we just want a contest from them.

"If they don't make it (the mark), at least bring it to ground so our little fellas, our little mozzie squad can do their job."