Tom Nicholls and Matthew Leuenberger will resume hostilities in the ruck this Saturday, with Brisbane’s man mountain passed fit to take his place in QClash 7 at Metricon Stadium.

The Lions’ ruckman tweaked his ankle in the lead-up to his side’s round two match against Geelong last weekend, but managed to recover in time to start against the Cats.

An injury cloud loomed over Leuenberger earlier this week, but Lions physical performance manager Brett Burton said the 204cm colossus would be available for the Queensland derby.

“Leuey’s fine, he pulled up really well – probably better than we thought he would,” Burton told the Lions’ website.

“When you take an injury like that into a game, sometimes the ankle can get a bit irritated and get a bit of fluid in it, but fortunately for him, he came through no worries.”

The Nicholls-Leuenberger match-up will come as welcoming news for Gold Coast and Brisbane fans alike.

Nicholls was in a purple patch of form when the teams last met and finished the match with 17 touches and 27 hit-outs, but Leuenberger was outstanding for the Lions. He picked up the three Brownlow votes in his team’s 33-point win after racking up 20 disposals, 29 hit-outs and 7 inside 50s.

It will be the second tough match-up in a row for Nicholls against a West Australian giant, after he battled gamely against Freo big man Aaron Sandilands in Perth last weekend.

The Lions will still be without veteran Brent Staker though, who is yet to overcome a calf injury.

“Stakes has a tear in his tendon, and that’s giving us a bit of grief at the moment,” Burton said.

“He’s pretty slow going and I wouldn’t imagine he would be back until probably after the bye.”