HISTORY shows that my time at the Brisbane Lions was brief and one of the more interesting characters I came across was a young man named Michael Voss. I’m four months older than Vossy but while I was still trying to establish myself at AFL level, he was the reigning Brownlow Medallist, had won the last two club best and fairests and had just been appointed co-captain of the new merged team.

In my time at the club, Vossy stood out as a true leader and he has an ability to bring guys with him. He has a powerful personality and has a lot of presence.

This week we will be sitting in opposing coaches’ boxes and I know we have got a challenge on our hands.

The Lions are playing some really good footy. Vossy has got them playing a strong attacking brand and the two big guys down forward are going to be a massive challenge for us.

Jonathan Brown is one of the modern-day greats but we can’t afford to ignore Daniel Bradshaw who has just as much ability to break a game open.

Daniel is another one who was just starting out at the Lions when I was up there. He is a great player, explosive off the mark, a strong grab and a beautiful kick. We are going to have our hands full with him and Browny.

We are coming off a hard-fought win over a tough Sydney Swans side and there were some positive signs to come from the game.

Our consistency over the four quarters is starting to get better. We’d still like to improve but the signs in terms of our consistency is starting to get better.

It’s a little bit unnerving when three of your better players look like they might be out for the game, especially when it happens so early in the match. Cyril Rioli didn’t return after doing his hammy but luckily we had Xavier Ellis and Luke Hodge back out there and they both did a great job in terms of digging in and not letting the team down.

On Monday I went out and watched Box Hill against the Bendigo Bombers, with an eye on two blokes in particular – Stephen Gilham and Rick Ladson who were making their returns from injury.

Both guys played some pretty good footy and got through. We have to get more game time into them over the next week or two. I’m sure they’ll be putting their hands up for selection in the senior side sooner rather than later. They are the type of guys we need in the team but we need to make sure their bodies are ready for the rigours of AFL.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.