IT WAS a mix of emotions on display from Sydney coach Dean Cox after Saturday night's 15.14 (104) to 8.12 (60) win against Brisbane at the SCG, juggling the joy of a strong result over a top team with the worries put in place by injury concerns to two of his star players.

The Swans dominated the reigning back-to-back premier from the outset, taking advantage of an undermanned Lions lineup to start the season 2-0, however the victory was soured as Errol Gulden (shoulder) and Isaac Heeney (hamstring tightness) left the field in the last quarter.

SWANS V LIONS Full match details and stats

Cox said he was unable to gauge the seriousness of Gulden's injury and would have to wait for scan results.

"It's a shoulder of some sort. We're going to get that looked at in the next day or two," Cox said post-match. 

"We'll assess it. We've only got a five-day break going into Hawthorn (at the MCG next Thursday).

"It's tough to commit to anything (about the degree of damage). He's walking around our change room, sat in our meeting.  

"It'll be what it will be, unfortunately, so hopefully it is quick. If it is longer than normal then so be it as well.

"We've got to make sure we do whatever we can to get him right as quickly as we can, which might be Monday, Tuesday, it might be a little bit longer. We'll wait for that and then work our way through it from there."

Cox was more optimistic about Heeney after the gun midfielder took himself from the contest on feeling tightness in his right leg. Club staff initially told Heeney to stay on the ground but he refused.

"He came out of the centre bounce and felt his hamstring, and it was something that we don't want to risk at all," Cox said.

"We'll assess it in the next couple of days, as well as Errol, and work out if there is any damage and if there is, what is it? If not, then great, he'll get on the plane and go to (face) Hawthorn."

In his second game in Sydney colours star recruit Charlie Curnow was well contained, but his goalless outing was balanced by five majors from fellow key forward Joel Amartey.

Asked about how the new combination was working in front of goal, Cox said he was happy with the balance and praised Amartey's performance.

"He's been putting everything he's been doing at training into games," the coach said.

"At one stage a forward's going to kick goals and the other's going to just provide contests, that's the way it's going to be, and Joel took his opportunity tonight, which is really good

As for Curnow, Cox said "It's pleasing that we're not relying on one person, and we don't want to be."

While starting its chase for a three-peat with two losses is far from ideal for Brisbane, Chris Fagan recognised the challenges his team faced leading into Saturday's clash and took positives from the performance as he plans for a long season ahead.

"It was a tough week for us, to be honest," Fagan said after the game. "We had a hell of a lot of changes, some pretty good players out of the team."

The Lions lost five members of their round one lineup, with the group joining an already long injury list, however Fagan preferred to concentrate on those coming into the side.

"You look at Lincoln McCarthy, he's playing his first game for two years tonight, 'Kiddy' Coleman's playing his third game in two years, (Sam) Draper's playing his first game for 12 months, (Daniel) Annable's playing his first game ever, (Zane) Zakostelsky his second game ever ... so I'm not surprised that the tempo found us out in the first quarter, because there's a lot of guys who just haven't been playing at that level for a long time."

While not dominating, Academy graduate Annable looked impressive on debut and will be given more opportunities as the season goes on, as will former Bomber ruckman Draper, despite looking a little rusty in his first game in new colours.

"I like the way we dug in, there's good signs there and all those blokes will be better for the opportunity and we'll get some troops back after our bye next week.

"Hugh McCluggage will be back, Logan Morris will be back, Darcy Gardiner will be back from suspension, Zac Bailey will be back.

"The only one we won't have back is Harris Andrews. Gardiner and Andrews are tremendously experienced defenders that would have been very very helpful tonight under the circumstances.

Brisbane will now have a week off to lick its wounds and regather the troops ahead of a round three clash against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.

"We've just got to get ourselves healthy again, and we've got a couple of weeks to do that, which will be handy."