No matter where the Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing is eventually held, James Hird will be confident the decision will go his and Essendon's desired way.

Fairfax Media revealed during the week that the World Anti-Doping Agency is seeking to have its appeal against the AFL anti-doping tribunal's ruling on 34 current and former Bombers players at CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, rather than at the court's Sydney base.

Asked about the development, Hird suggested a call on location was still far away on the horizon, but reiterated his belief that an appeal was likely to go the same way as the initial verdict.

"It's beyond me. It'll be where it'll be, I think it's a long way away," the Essendon coach said before training on Friday morning.

"But Switzerland, Melbourne, Sydney, I think the result will be the same."

While there is no prospect of the hearing being held in Melbourne, one thing that will happen there is Sunday's clash between the Bombers and the resurgent Brisbane Lions.

The Dons are looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat, with the Lions aiming for their third win in a row after upsetting Carlton and Port Adelaide in the last fortnight.

Hird said that Justin Leppitsch's team had changed their game plan slightly, and looked impressive.

"We obviously need to be competitive through the midfield, that's their strength, and it's a young backline against a young forward line, and it'll be an exciting contest."

The coach confirmed that Jake Carlisle, Paul Chapman and Adam Cooney would all return from injuries to face the Lions, hinting that ruck/forward Shaun McKernan would make way for Carlisle, a prospect bolstered by McKernan joining fellow seven-man bench member Orazio Fantasia in warming up with those players not selected in this weekend's side.

Carlisle, 23, is back after missing last weekend's loss to North Melbourne with a neck injury sustained in training. The flexible big man has just seven goals in six games so far in 2015, but despite that lean offering, Hird said he would resist moving the former defender back to his old post.

"I think Jake's committed to playing forward, and he 's doing a really good job. You've got to remember Jake had a pre-season where he didn't really get on the track until February, so we knew he'd be a bit slow early."

Another who will continue to spend time forward is Jobe Watson, with the coach saying that he liked the captain to spend around a third of game time as a forward.

Hird added that despite his side losing last weekend, the Bombers were entering the game against the Lions upbeat after their ball movement improved significantly against the Kangaroos.

"Come back from Perth, two six-day breaks in a row, a very young team, eight under 50 games, we think our performance was a good performance, if not a winning performance and that gave us confidence."