Voss facing tough decision on veterans: Brown

JONATHAN Brown says Lions coach Michael Voss is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to calling time on the careers of club greats.

BRISBANE captain Jonathan Brown says Lions coach Michael Voss is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to calling time on the careers of club greats.

Earlier this week Voss was bullish about veteran midfielder Simon Black playing on in 2013 with the club keen to avoid a repeat of the messy split with triple premiership player Luke Power at the end of last season.

Brown shares Voss' enthusiasm about Black lining up for a 16th AFL season.

He also feels for his former captain who has to make the tough calls about the future of one-time premiership teammates.

"It's hard for Vossy because he's been our captain, he's a great mate of ours but at the end of the day, he's got a job to do for the footy club," Brown said.

"He's got to be honest as a coach to us players about how we are going with our performance.

"It comes to a point in time when guys get to the end of their careers and the same happens if you've been a mediocre player or if you've been a great player.

"I'm sure I'll get it as well, where you may be given a little bit of advice as to your footy career might be coming towards an end.

"At the end of the day, I suppose it's just going to be how he (Black) feels mentally and physically at the end of the season.

"I'm pretty sure Vossy would be pretty keen for him to go around and all of us boys would be as well."

Brown said Brisbane's more immediate concern was dealing with a hostile reception from West Coast at Perth's Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

The Eagles were stunned by the Lions at the Gabba in round 10 and have lost their last two starts to slide to fifth on the ladder.

"They've had a couple of bad losses so they'll be very pumped up so we've got to come out and match their pressure," Brown said.

"There'll be a crowd of over 40,00 there, pretty much all of them will be Eagles supporters so it's just going to be us 22 guys out there who are going to have to really come together as a group and try to silence the crowd.

"It's getting towards the end of the year, the top four and how important it is to get that second chance final. They'll realise that.

"We're one of the bottom eight sides so they are the games that top four sides are supposed to win. There will be a bit of pressure there, no doubt.

"We were pretty disappointed with our effort last Saturday so we certainly want to make amends as well."

Brown said the Lions were "lucky" to beat the Suns at Metricon Stadium last weekend.