Brisbane are working towards securing government exemptions to allow more players to leave Queensland and boost their travel party in Victoria.
The Lions, who are set to remain in Victoria until at least round four following their home city's coronavirus outbreak, have already flown down four additional players.
Darcy Gardiner, Marcus Adams, Rhys Mathieson and Connor Ballenden had to have COVID-19 tests and isolate before joining their teammates.
"We've got about 28 players here," coach Chris Fagan told reporters on Wednesday.
"In the ideal situation you'd like to have them all down here because we don't quite know how long we'll be staying at the moment but we need to get exemptions from Queensland Government for that to occur.
"Those wheels are in motion - we'll try and get a few more players down."
Fagan admitted he had "no idea" when the Lions would be able to get more players to Victoria, while noting a likely lack of VFL football would also prove testing.
The Lions coach cited Gardiner - who had been due to return from injury via a VFL practice match before the Lions had their game called off - as a player who had already been affected by the upheaval.
"Now obviously with the uncertainty around things in Brisbane at the moment, our reserves guys did not get to play last weekend and he was due to play," Fagan said.
"So it's one of the problems that we now have - if we get injuries our replacements haven't had much match practice for the last four or five weeks."
Fagan said morale among the players had improved once they knew they would be remaining in Melbourne, while he did not plan to look beyond Thursday's relocated game against Collingwood at Marvel Stadium.
After spending most of 2020 at home while Victoria's clubs went to hubs, Fagan said Brisbane's early challenges gave them an opportunity to show they could win with their backs to the wall.
"What happened last year was very, very difficult for all the teams that came from the other states and it was to our advantage and I don't think there's any arguing about that," he said.
"We now find ourselves in a similar situation, so we're looking to respond in the best possible way."
