The Brisbane Lions squad will enjoy the weekend off before the start of the season proper, but several of their early opponents face potentially longer periods on the sidelines.

The Lions host Hawthorn in round one at the Gabba, and the Hawks may be forced to travel without star midfielder Luke Hodge, who was reported twice in Saturday's 10-point NAB Challenge match loss to Essendon.

The Hawks will already be without former skipper Shane Crawford for the season opener and will now be sweating on Hodge, booked for striking Matthew Lloyd and charging Damien Peverill. Adding to the Hawks' woes, Crawford was reported again for using insulting and abusive language towards an umpire.

In a bizarrely busy weekend for the match review panel, considering all games bar the NAB Cup Grand Final were effectively practice matches, Matthew Carr (Fremantle), Lenny Hayes (St Kilda), Dave Hille (Essendon) and Kepler Bradley (Essendon) all found their way into the umpires' notebooks. Carr, Hayes and Hille were reported for striking, while Bradley had his number taken for making forceful contact to the head of Hawthorn's Grant Birchall.

Hayes' Saints travel to the Gabba on April 5 for a round two Easter Thursday meeting with the Lions.

The weekend also produced no shortage of drama on the injury front, with the Kangaroos' Nathan Thompson already ruled out for the season with a knee reconstruction following an injury in Friday night's defeat by St Kilda. Hawthorn expect to have skipper Richie Vandenberg fit for the round one meeting with the Lions, despite his early exit from the Essendon clash because of hamstring tightness.

West Coast must wait to see whether Ashley Hansen's groin injury, sustained in a 20-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, keeps him out of the round one Grand Final rematch with Sydney, while Bulldogs veteran Chris Grant also hobbled off with a groin injury and must be a question mark for the opening round of the season.

NAB CHALLENGE WRAP:

Richmond 10.12 (72) d Collingwood 9.11 (65)

Nathan Brown looks a chance to pick up where he left off before his horrific leg injury of 2005, after kicking four goals and being named best afield in Richmond's seven-point win. Johnson provided the sealer for the Tigers when Collingwood had closed to within seven points twice in the fourth term. For the Pies, again without key players including Nathan Buckley and Alan Didak, Dale Thomas batled hard and indicated he was well positioned to improve on his impressive debut season of 2006.

St Kilda 10.13 (73) d Kangaroos 9.8 (62)

Ross Lyon notched his first victory as St Kilda coach but the bigger news was the knee injury to ace Kangaroos forward Nathan Thompson, who now won't return until 2008. Justin Koschitzke, Matt Maguire and Lenny Hayes made up part of the Saints' injury curse last year but all emerged unscathed from the weekend - although Hayes' comeback from a knee reconstruction was soured somewhat by a report for striking. Nick Riewoldt did not play for St Kilda because of back tightness.

Port Adelaide 14.13 (97) d Sydney 14.8 (92)

In an exciting contest, ex-Lion Tom Logan was among the Port goalkickers as Mark Williams' side held off a late-surging Sydney. With Nick Davis and Barry Hall combining for five goals for the match, the Swans were coming hard at the end, after trailing throughout the match - but just ran out of time. Michael Pettigrew was named best afield for Port, while Leo Barry received a similar accolade for Sydney.

Fremantle 12.11 (83) d Adelaide 7.16 (58)

Big name Fremantle recruit Chris Tarrant found form at the right time, kicking four goals and combining well with skipper Matthew Pavlich as the Dockers forged a 25-point victory. As impressive as the forward duo were, it was Dockers ruckman Aaron Sandilands who was named best afield - at $31 the 211cm monolith might just be a Brownlow Medal smokie. Adelaide, still without captain Mark Ricciuto, got good service from reliable defender Graham Johncock but were punished for their inaccuracy.

Essendon 10.15 (75) d Hawthorn 9.11 (65)

For the second week in a row, a Hawthorn practice match featured a melee and a Shane Crawford report - although the double-booking of star midfielder Luke Hodge was the Hawks' biggest concern. Essendon also had two players reported in ruckman David Hille and key defender Kepler Bradley. In between the umpires jotting down numbers in their notebooks, Alwyn Davey (brother of Melbourne's Aaron) kicked three goals for the Bombers, with Mark McVeigh helping himself to a glut of possession across half-back.

Geelong 11.13 (79) d Melbourne 7.12 (54)

Cameron Mooney continued his fine start to 2007 with four goals for Geelong, while Paul Chapman's first appearance of the year was another positive for the Cats. Mark Thompson's side led at every change and kicked away in the last quarter, inspired by Jimmy Bartel, who, if he carries his pre-season form through the season proper, will be a force to be reckoned with. For the second week in succession Melbourne were best served by Travis Johnstone, with up-and-coming midfielder Nathan Jones also catching the eye.

Western Bulldogs 15.6 (96) d West Coast 11.10 (76)

After a tumultuous week, West Coast were slow to begin - and the Bulldogs needed no second invitation to take advantage. A four-goal-to-none first quarter provided the foundation of the Bulldogs' victory, with Brad Johnson kicking three goals for the game, Scott West irrepressible in the midfield and Luke Darcy showing he is back on track from double knee reconstructions. The Eagles looked cohesive at times with Chris Judd and Ben Cousins in the midfield and burly forward Quinten Lynch kicking four goals.