Brumbies coach Dan McKellar was hopeful Lolesio's ankle injury was only minor after he came off 48 minutes into a gripping four-point win over the Queensland Reds.

Lolesio says he is desperate to make the trip to Perth as the Brumbies look to keep their unbeaten start to Super Rugby Pacific alive on Friday night.

But he is confident Iona will be able to rise to the occasion should Lolesio be sidelined for "a week or two" in a blow that would seriously test the club's playmaking depth.

Losing Lolesio would leave Iona and Nathan Carroll as the Brumbies' leading five-eighth options as they prepare to spend the next four matches on the road. McKellar says Iona "just needs time in the saddle" given his opportunities at Super Rugby level have been limited so far.

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"Definitely [want to play next week]. I'm never going to take this spot for granted, but in saying that when I came off I thought Rodney did an awesome job. If it is a week or two, worst-case scenario, I'll get around him as best as I can so he can slot into that 10 jersey easily," Lolesio said.

"I don't know what the diagnosis is yet. I'll reassess with the physios and just go from there. I'm in good spirits though, it sounds like a low-grade carry-on so I'll be alright.

"I thought it was just like a little cork or bruise on my ankle but I thought I would be alright if I tried to strap it up. The more I kept running on it, the worse it got pain-wise. I tried to run on it for as long as I could but I felt like I would have been a weakness to the team if I stayed on.

"If I'm ready to go, I'll play."

The Brumbies managed to grind out a win over the Reds which leaves them as the last unbeaten team standing in the competition - but Lolesio, and McKellar for that matter, are far from satisfied.

"We spoke about it in the change rooms, we didn't play our best footy but we stopped the Reds from playing their type of footy," Lolesio said.

"If we can play ugly and still win, we'll take that. It's awesome we've got five from five to start and we've just got to build on it. We can't get too carried away because we know we've got to do a job on the Force."

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