Brisbane captain Jonathan Brown will return from his injury lay-off in the Lions' NAB Cup opener on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

And Lenny Hayes is back into the St Kilda line-up after missing nearly all of 2011 with a knee injury.

Cup squads below

Brown needed facial surgery for the second time last year when he suffered a nasty collision in round 17.

But the Lions have left out Daniel Merrett with hamstring soreness and Andrew Raines had minor knee surgery on the weekend.

Brisbane will play Gold Coast and Melbourne in the round-robin fixture.

The Demons have left out new co-captain Jack Trengove with a leg injury, meaning Jack Grimes - who missed most of last season with injury - will lead the side.

Former Brisbane ruck-forward Mitch Clark, who was the story of last year's trade week, will make his Demons debut against his old side.

The same applies for Gold Coast defender Matthew Warnock, who was traded from the Demons.

Star St Kilda midfielder Leigh Montagna is a late withdrawal from the team to play Geelong and Sydney in Friday night's games at Etihad Stadium. Rookie Tom Curren, who played in the VFL all last season in his first season on St Kilda's list, gets a chance at the top level in Montagna's place.

The big news for the Saints is that Hayes is back. The midfield general needed a knee reconstruction after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament in last year’s round-two draw with Richmond.

New coach Scott Watters said Hayes’ summer could not have gone more smoothly.

Former West Coast and Claremont defender Beau Wilkes is in St Kilda's squad.

Geelong rookie draft selection Cam Eardley, from East Fremantle, has been named by the Cats.

Gold Coast teenager Jaegar O'Meara was picked after the AFL gave the Suns special permission for him to play in the NAB Cup. The 17-year-old remains too young to play in the regular season.

As expected, Carlton captain Chris Judd will miss Sunday's NAB Cup round-one game in Adelaide against the Crows and Port Adelaide.

Judd will be among seven frontline Blues who will sit out this weekend.

Jarrad Waite, Michael Jamison, Mitch Robinson, Nick Duigan, Andrew Walker and Rob Warnock will not play.

But the Blues squad includes father-son draft selection Dylan Buckley and fellow draftees Josh Bootsma and Sam Rowe.

SYDNEY, GEELONG and ST KILDA at Etihad Stadium, Friday, February 24

SYDNEY: Mark Seaby, Rhyce Shaw, Jarrad McVeigh, Ryan O'Keefe, Nick Malceski, Mitch Morton, Jed Lamb, Josh Kennedy, Andrejs Everitt, Craig Bird, Kieren Jack, Gary Rohan, Tommy Walsh, Jesse White, Sam Reid, Ben McGlynn, Jordan Lockyer, Jude Bolton, Ted Richards, Luke Parker, Dylan McNeill, Martin Mattner, Lewis Jetta, Jarred Moore, Alex Johnson, Campbell Heath, Adam Goodes, Michael Pyke, Heath Grundy, Nick Smith, Shane Mumford, Harry Cunningham, Nathan Gordon, Shane Biggs.

GEELONG: Mitchell Brown, Billie Smedts, Jimmy Bartel, Andrew Mackie, Harry Taylor, Josh Hunt, Trent West, Tom Lonergan, Joel Selwood, Jordan Schroder, Shannon Byrnes, Taylor Hunt, Mitchell Duncan, Orren Stephenson, Tom Gillies, Tom Hawkins, Mathew Stokes, Cameron Guthrie, Steven Motlop, George Horlin Smith, Simon Hogan, Cameron Eardley, Shane Kersten, Jesse Stringer, Josh Walker, George Burbury, Jonathan Simpkin, Ryan Bathie.

ST KILDA: Daniel Archer, David Armitage, Jason Blake, Jamie Cripps, Sam Crocker, Tom Curren, Sean Dempster, Sam Fisher, Jarryn Geary, Sam Gilbert, Brendon Goddard, Jason Gram, Lenny Hayes, Clint Jones, Justin Koschitzke, Tom Ledger, Ben McEvoy, Terry Milera, Stephen Milne, Jack Newnes, Brett Peake, Dean Polo, Farren Ray, Nick Riewoldt, Sebastian Ross, Ahmed Saad, Adam Schneider, Cameron Shenton, Tom Simpkin, Arryn Siposs, Rhys Stanley, Jack Steven, Beau Wilkes, Nick Winmar.

MELBOURNE, BRISBANE and GOLD COAST at Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast, Saturday, February 25

MELBOURNE: Nathan Jones, Clint Bartram, Jack Watts, Jordan Gysberts, Matthew Bate, Jamie Bennell, James Frawley, Mitch Clark, Colin Sylvia, Lynden Dunn, Ricky Petterd, Jack Grimes, Brad Green, Colin Garland, Brent Moloney, Tom McDonald, Daniel Nicholson, Jared Rivers, Joel MacDonald, James Sellar, Stefan Martin, Aaron Davey, Jeremy Howe, Mark Jamar, Rohan Bail, Josh Tynan, Tom Couch, Jack Fitzpatrick, James Magner.

BRISBANE: Ryan Harwood, Sam Sheldon, Jared Polec, Billy Longer, Joshua Green, Jed Adcock, Bryce Retzlaff, Ashley McGrath, Pearce Hanley, James Hawksley, Jonathan Brown, Claye Beams, Todd Banfield, Jordan Lisle, Simon Black, Ben Hudson, Matthew Leuenberger, Joel Patfull, Richard Newell (Rookie), Elliot Yeo, Patrick Karnezis, Jack Redden, James Polkinghorne, Cheynee Stiller, Amon Buchanan, Jesse O’Brien, Ryan Lester, Matt Maguire, Tom Rockliff, Mitchell Golby, Rohan Bewick, Aaron Cornelius, Brad Harvey (Rookie), Jack Crisp.

GOLD COAST: Jaeger O’Meara, Zac Smith, Jared Brennan, Maverick Weller, Jarrod Harbrow, Alik Magin, Karmichael Hunt, Luke Russell, Gary Ablett, Harley Bennell, Hayden Jolly, Matthew Warnock, Piers Flanagan, Josh Fraser, Jeremy Taylor, Charlie Dixon, David Swallow, Matt Shaw, Campbell Brown, Jackson Allen, Aaron Hall, Michael Rischitelli, Sam Iles, Alex Sexton, Joel Wilkinson, Dion Prestia, Kyal Horsley, Liam Patrick, Nathan Bock, Steven May, Daniel Gorringe, Seb Tape, Jacob Gillbee, Andrew McQualter.

PORT ADELAIDE, CARLTON and ADELAIDE at AAMI Stadium, Sunday, February 26

PORT ADELAIDE: Domenic Cassisi, Steven Salopek, Matthew Broadbent, Danyle Pearce, Brad Ebert, Hamish Hartlett, Jacob Surjan, Travis Boak, Mitchell Banner, Jackson Trengove, Cameron O’Shea, Paul Stewart, David Rodan, Ben Jacobs, Robbie Gray, Kane Cornes, Chad Wingard, Simon Phillips, Nathan Blee, Andrew Moore, Alipate Carlile, Jay Schulz, Troy Chaplin, Daren Pfeiffer, John Butcher, Jarrad Redden, John McCarthy, Justin Westhoff, Aaron Young, Brendon Ah Chee, Thomas Jonas, Daniel Stewart, Tom Logan, Jarrad Irons.

CARLTON: Jordan Russell, Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Kade Simpson, Dylan Buckley, Matthew Kreuzer, Kane Lucas, Matthew Watson, Chris Yarran, Brock McLean, Jeremy Laidler, Andrew Collins, Sam Rowe, Paul Bower, Eddie Betts, Josh Bootsma, Shaun Hampson, Lachie Henderson, Patrick McCarthy, Andrew McInnes, Dennis Armfield, Heath Scotland, Marcus Davies, Bret Thornton, Edward Curnow, Rohan Kerr, Jeffrey Garlett, Frazer Dale, Levi Casboult, Zach Tuohy, Andrew Carrazzo, Aaron Joseph, David Ellard, Mitchell Carter.

ADELAIDE: Richard Tambling, Brent Reilly, Kurt Tippett, Scott Thompson, Luke Thompson, Nathan Van Berlo, Lewis Johnston, Rory Sloane, Matthew Jaensch, Michael Doughty, Daniel Talia, Taylor Walker, David Mackay, Brad Symes, Bernie Vince, Graham Johncock, Joshua Jenkins, Andy Otten, Jared Petrenko, Sam Jacobs, Richard Douglas, Tom Lynch, Sam Kerridge, Jarryd Lyons, Patrick Dangerfield, Brodie Smith, Sam Shaw, Shaun Mckernan, Ian Callinan, Aidan Riley, Ricky Henderson, Matthew Wright, Tim McIntyre.