BRISBANE Lions coach Chris Fagan is surprised how quickly Dayne Beams has recovered from a shoulder injury to take his place in Saturday night's match against Geelong.

Beams, the Lions' captain, suffered a strain to his AC joint less than two weeks ago after a monster bump from Shane Mumford, but has beaten his expected return date by one to two weeks.

"I must admit, I didn't expect him to play this week," Fagan said.

"But (I) got the word on Wednesday that he was a strong chance and he trained really well last night, and wants to play.

"We just go with the medical advice and how he's feeling. He gave us the nod.

"I would say on the Richter scale of toughness, Beams is pretty tough."

Fagan said he didn't want players being "heroic" to return from injury early, and that certainly wasn't the case with Beams, saying his skipper wouldn't play if he wasn't right.

On the other side of the ledger, the Cats also get their skipper back, with Joel Selwood returning after missing last Saturday night's draw against GWS with concussion.

Fagan said there was more to Geelong than the 'Dangerwood' combination of Patrick Dangerfield and Selwood.

"They've got some other great players in their midfield," he said.

"(Mitch) Duncan's one that gets under the guard on a regular basis.

"They've got a lot of smaller, quicker players they can throw in there as well.

"They are, and always have been, a great team, and they've never relied really on one or two blokes.

"I know that's the banter in the footy world, but that's not how we're treating it.

"They're a great side, I've built enormous respect for them over the years in the battles they've had with the Hawks, so I know what we're coming up against.

"If we can play well tomorrow night, it's a great sign that we're on the improve."