Veteran Queensland forward Van Humphries has warned the young Reds they face a tougher task in 2011 now they no longer fly under the Super Rugby radar.

Queensland were the feel-good success story of 2010 when they took the Super 14 by storm with a razzle-dazzle attacking game and went within one win of a shock semi-final finish.

At 35, Humphries remains more than a decade older than two-thirds of a Reds squad which will be more experienced and confident this season.

But the towering lock predicted wins would become more difficult to come by as rivals prepare better for the former battlers.

"I think it will be harder," he said. "I don't think teams will underestimate us as they did last year.

"We showed teams from third, fourth round in last year that we could play consistent football throughout the season.

"I think a lot of teams will be doing more analysis on us and we'll have to take the next step up to continue to improve and look to push for that top six."

The Reds, who beat three of the top four teams in 2010, finished the competition in fifth place and would have qualified for the play-offs if the new six-team concept had been introduced instead of delayed.

Humphries, who toured Europe with the Wallabies in November, will have his own sizeable challenge in keeping his starting berth in the second row.

The return from a knee reconstruction of skipper James Horwill, the emergence of Test rookie Rob Simmons and the evergreen Radike Samo's pre-season efforts have put the heat on Humphries.

"There's four guys for two spots but hopefully (coach) Ewen (McKenzie) chooses to play those guys (Horwill and Samo) at No.6 at some stages," he smiled.

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