Gold Coast SUNS Coach Guy McKenna is expecting the first Queensland derby between the GC SUNS and the Brisbane Lions to be a fiery encounter despite its practice match status.

The teams will play on Sunday at Southport in the final NAB Challenge match before round one and McKenna said neither he nor counterpart Michael Voss would need to fire their players up ahead of the much-anticipated clash.

"It's a game, yes it's a pre-season game, but I'm sure … they'll think they're big brother and they'll want to step on little brother," McKenna said on Tuesday.

"It's no different to what I witnessed at West Coast with Fremantle.

"Michael and I don't have to talk about the passion between the two sides because that's going to be there whether we're playing a game of darts or marbles or whatever it is.

"They've been in the AFL a lot longer than their younger brothers down south, it's only natural, but our young kids won't want to be pushed around by big brother. It's just something that's going to happen [naturally]."

McKenna expects to name a fairly healthy squad for the match that should be "about 80 or 90 per cent" of full strength, but won't contain Gary Ablett (calf/groin), Campbell Brown (shoulder) or Jared Brennan (ankle).

Ablett has undergone a modified pre-season program that has kept him out of GC SUNS practice match teams, but McKenna laughed off reports out of Victoria claiming the former Geelong star was suffering osteitis pubis.

"He's good. He's tracking along nicely," he said.

"He's probably another two weeks [from playing] which is another 15 or 20km [of running] under his belt which will make him just about ready for round two."

McKenna described the absence of those experienced players as "not ideal" in terms of building team chemistry and it also presents him with a selection dilemma given the youth of his squad.

"If Jonathan Brown plays on the weekend there would be some kids I just wouldn't put out there," he said.

"I couldn't do it to their parents and I couldn't do it to them. I've got to be able to sleep at night knowing that I can send their boys out there."

Gold Coast SUNS will watch the 16 other sides kick off the premiership season before taking the field for its inaugural AFL match against Carlton in round two, but McKenna said GC SUNS would not schedule an extra intra-club game for its bye weekend.

"We'll have our side picked and rehearsed," he said.

"We've got a good two weeks leading into round two to really fine tune it."