Jonathan Brown will be weighing up the severity of his foot injury and the direction of the Brisbane team in deciding whether to draw the curtain on his glittering AFL career.
There are fears Brown has played his 245th and last game for the Lions after tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot just 14 minutes into Brisbane’s 31-point win over St Kilda on Saturday night.
The Brisbane co-captain almost immediately hobbled off the Gabba and was subbed out of the match two minutes later.
While coach Michael Voss says Brown will undergo scans on Monday, it’s almost certain the star forward won’t return in 2013.
Voss rated his triple-premiership teammate, who turns 32 in October, “one of the toughest and most resilient blokes I’ve ever met” and wasn’t about to write him off.
But the off-contract Brown last week declared he’d wait until the end of the season before contemplating a 15th AFL campaign.
“I feel pretty good but I’d just rather play the year out (before deciding),” said Brown 11 days ago.
“There’s all sorts of factors, but team is a big factor. You want your team to be going in the right direction which I think we are, no doubt about it.
“I’m physically in pretty good nick, but at this stage I’m just worried about finishing the year off strong and helping us win some important games at the end of the year.”
Brisbane sit 12th on the AFL ladder with an 8-10 record and appear out of finals reckoning but Saturday night’s victory was their fourth in the past five rounds, and fourth straight at the Gabba.
With Brown a dejected figure on the sidelines, Daniel Merrett and 150-gamer Brent Staker kicked three goals each as the Lions accounted for the Saints 16.12 (108) to 11.11 (77).
Voss also threw defender Matt Maguire forward in the last quarter and the surprise move paid off with the former Saint’s first goal in seven years before he wildly shanked a set shot.
Voss indicated either former Hawk Jordan Lisle or ex-Demon Stef Martin would replace Brown in the forward line against Richmond at the MCG on Saturday.
“As much as we can focus on not having our skipper, he’s an important figure … but our team has to improve by everyone having to step up,” the coach said.
“Whether he’s not there for a week, he’s not there for three weeks or the season – I can’t tell at this stage what it is – but I think it’s a great opportunity for us … against a good footy team (Richmond) with the crowd in full force.”
