Wattles Warriors top grade coach Travis Burns has had to make a few team changes this week but is still confident his side has the goods to out-muscle the Brothers Leprauchauns at Platz Oval tonight.

After two wins from the initial two rounds of the TRL 2018 season, Burns is happy with his side's form, but insists they need to step up to the plate this weekend.

"We are without centre Jake Hargreaves who is serving a one-match suspension, while winger Brodie Frizzell is sidelined long term with a back injury,” Burns said.

"Brothers showed plenty of enthusiasm in their win over Souths in their last outing. We certainly won't be taking them lightly.”

The Wattles mentor said he was looking to "tidy our own backyard by cutting the error rate and being patient”.

While happy with how his side is performing in general, Burns is concerned about the Wattles' ball control.

"Our defence and attack are fine, but frequent handling errors are certainly costing us points and adding extra workload defending.”

Burns himself has worked hard to overcome a troublesome back injury over the past fortnight, but is fit for the vital Brothers encounter.

Despite the line-up losses, Nick Van Der Poel will move into the Wattles three-quarter line, adding to the backline attacking arsenal. The 20 year old will make his Wattles A-grade debut although he did run on in pre-season trials.

Van Der Poel is a former Wattles junior who turned out for Townsville Brothers last year and was a member of the top grade premiership winning side, while also drafted into the Townsville Black Hawks Intrust Super Cup side's colts.

Winger Braydon Wilson will also make his 2018 return to A-grade against Brothers, and will be hoping to return to his prolific try-scoring best as we saw last season when he was among the TRL's top try scorers.

It will be up to the Wattles forward pack, led by in-form bookends Michael Pearson, Dylan Wilson and co-skipper Dale Perkins, to take their side forward and allow playmakers Matt Duggan and Travis Burns to create opportunities for the outside backs.

Wilson was named TRL best player for round 2 after a superb showing against Gatton, and suggests "it comes down to basics - stick to the game plan and play out our sets”.

Matches kick off at Platz Oval, Clifton, today.

U18: 4pm, reserve grade: 5.30pm, A-grade: 7pm.