The Brisbane Lions have reported that midfielder Nigel Lappin's mysterious elbow injury is finally showing signs of improvement.

Lappin's preseason has been plagued by a nerve-related problem that has affected his ability to straighten his right arm, and Lions coach Matthews said Lappin and the club were relieved to see some recent improvement.

"When nothing is happening, you tend to get a little bit concerned, but finally the last week as I guess the medical opinion was, the nerve inflammation was starting to settle down," Matthews said.

"So hopefully that improvement will continue, so hopefully he'll be back with the group next week."

Meanwhile, the Lions say they are not too concerned about the Bulldogs' decision to leave Jason Akermanis out of their side for tomorrow night's AFL preseason cup clash in Melbourne.

At the start of the week, Akermanis challenged his former club to play star forward Jonathan Brown, but the outspoken midfielder will also be missing after he was ruled out with hamstring tightness.

The Bulldogs will meet the Lions in round 11 of the premiership, and Matthews said it would be an interesting occasion.

"It will still be strange, when we are finally sitting in the coaching box, and our members and supporters and all of us are sitting there and watched games and watched Aker [Akermanis] so much in a Lions jersey, it's going to be strange to see him running around in another team," Matthews said.