They’re ranked the second worst team in the competition, but Gold Coast swingman Danny Stanley has dismissed suggestions the Brisbane Lions are a spent force in the AFL.

The SUNS’ northern neighbours have struggled to make any sort of impact in 2014, winning just four games from their 16 matches played.

It’s a far cry from the team’s presentable win-loss return from last season, when 10 victories saw Brisbane finish just one game shy of a possible top eight berth.

Despite their ongoing hardships, Stanley said Gold Coast was fully expecting to meet an emotion-charged Lions team hell-bent on restoring some pride by reclaiming bragging rights as Queensland’s No. 1 team.

“They had some unlucky injuries at the start of the year, especially with Daniel Rich (knee) and you never take any team lightly,” he said.

“They’ve played some reasonable football in the past few weeks and they may not have had the year they would have liked but we are certainly looking at them as very dangerous opposition.”

Stanley urged Gold Coasters to make the trip up the M1 for the bi-annual QClash match-up.

“We want as much support as we can get to every game but being only an hour up the road we would love to see a fait bit of support in the red and yellow and that obviously helps us a great deal,” he said.