They have talked the talk - again.

But the Brisbane Lions realise this time they have to walk the walk.

Even if they have picked up a noticeable limp ahead of Sunday's AFL clash against unbeaten leaders St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

Full of beans after three straight wins, Lions coach Michael Voss talked up his side at the start of the week.

It was time to "raise the bar", he said.

The last time they felt this confident was ahead of their round five clash at Geelong last month - history shows they lost by 93 points.

Key Lion Josh Drummond said this time Brisbane must back up their words against the Saints - despite their horror week.

Long term injuries to key defenders Joel Patfull and Daniel Merrett - and off-field distractions caused by former Lion Jason Akermanis - will be "no excuse" if Brisbane become road kill on Sunday.

"We had the same conversation about a month ago when we were up against Geelong and we failed that test miserably," Drummond said.

"So we will be very keen to make sure after all the hype and all the build-up, we take it out on the field and we back it up.

"It's a chance to test ourselves. We are pretty confident that we will give a much better account of ourselves than we did at Geelong.

"Any time you get a chance to play the top sides you look forward to it."

Despite their confident start to the week, the Lions have had little to smile about recently.

Voss found out moments after giving his side a rap on Monday that Patfull (broken jaw) and Merrett (ankle) would be out for at least a month.

Not good news before taking on St Kilda's twin towers Nick Reiwoldt and Justin Koschitzke.

"They (Reiwoldt, Koschitzke) are big and strong and can take a huge contested mark," Drummond said.

"It would have been great to have them (Patfull, Merrett) there but they are not and you move on."

Then the Lions caught a heavy dose of "Akermania".

They copped flak for calling an extraordinary press conference to publicly respond to former Lions golden boy Jason Akermanis' criticism of all things Brisbane in a sensational newspaper spread on Wednesday.

Akermanis - now with the Western Bulldogs - loved it, keeping the issue bubbling along in the media for the rest of the week.

But Drummond said the Saints gave them enough to worry about.

"It's not an ideal situation, but we are not going to dwell on the negatives - St Kilda is a great challenge," Drummond said.

"We want to have a crack at them this weekend."

Draftee Aaron Cornelius - still only 18 - will make his AFL debut and veteran Tim Notting will line up for game No.199 after being slotted into the Lions team for Patfull and Merrett.

Remarkably, the Lions have won 14 of 21 matches against the Saints, including the last two in a canter.

But the Lions (5th; 5-3) don't have to be told the Saints (1st; 8-0) are a very different proposition in 2009.

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