BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss has laid the challenge at the feet of his young squad, declaring he’s expecting nothing less than victory over St Kilda in their NAB Cup clash on Saturday night.

The club’s first competitive hit-out for 2009 at Gold Coast Stadium will also be the first outing for triple premiership player Voss as a senior coach.

“We compete to win. That’s always my motto,” he said in Brisbane on Friday.

“I don’t care whether we are playing a practice match or you’re playing for actual premiership points, you always prepare to win.”

It’s been an easy selection process for the Lions. The players making up the squad of 28 are the only fit ones available.

There’s no Simon Black, Jonathan Brown or Daniel Bradshaw, leaving the door ajar for the rookies to get an early chance to impress.

Voss has revealed that four of the club’s picks from the 2008 NAB AFL Draft will get game time, including Daniel Rich (pick 7), Jack Redden (25), Aaron Cornelius (57) and Adam Spackman (66).

“Daniel Rich will probably play some time through the midfield and probably Jack Redden will play some time in the midfield also, so we’ve got some players who will get some exposure,” he said.

“Aaron will play. Depending on where guys end up, he could play a bit of time back, could play some time forward.”

Voss will outline roles for each of the young brigade at the club’s final training run on Friday night, but won’t be putting too much pressure on them.

“They’re very excited, so just keep the task very simple for them and they’ll do a good job, because their enthusiasm just bubbles over.”

While the aim will be to win against the Saints, the main focus is definitely still a few weeks away.

“You’re in a bit of a false floor,” Voss said.

“You’ve got to make sure that the vision you’re going towards is round one.

‘This is a critical part to our preparation because you get to practice things, you get to put things in place and see whether they work or don’t work or what you want to modify, but we’re at a false floor really.

“Round one is where the bikkies are, so we can’t lose sight of that.”