BRISBANE Lions captain Jonathan Brown says he's feeling fit and healthy, despite battling through a pre-season interrupted by the floods and an infected knee.

Brown's knee problem flared after he suffered a graze at training three weeks ago and woke up the next morning to find that it had "blown up like a balloon".

As a result, he has been unable to play in any of the Lions' practice matches.

"It probably happened because we were using different grounds after the floods and they were not as good as our usual oval," Brown said during his appearance at Etihad Stadium on Thursday for the annual captains' photo shoot.

"It hasn't held me back a great deal fitness-wise, but it means I haven't been able to play any games, so that's not ideal."

Brown didn't miss a home and away match between 2007 and 2009. However, the physical nature of his key forward role resulted in him often carrying injuries.

A year ago, that wear and tear began to show when the big man from Warrnambool was forced to sit out six games due to a chronic groin complaint. He played under duress in a number of others.

But while the infected knee was annoying, Brown's absence from the practice match circuit has left him feeling fresh ahead of the Lions' round one meeting with Fremantle at the Gabba.

"My goal has been to be healthy for round one and that's a big difference from last year," he said.

At the age of 29, and with 200 games under his belt, Brown knows he's far closer to end of his career than the beginning.

Yet he believes he can remain a force at the highest level for at least another couple of seasons.

"I'm still confident I can be 100 percent when I get out on the park,' Brown stated.

"I won't be changing my game style too much. If my body holds up, it holds up."

The Lions have been widely tipped to fight out the wooden spoon with their new Queensland rivals, the Gold Coast Suns.

However, their skipper remains confident in his teammates, and the coaching of his good mate Michael Voss, despite a tumultuous pre-season which included the sacking of Brendan Fevola.

"There's not much we can do about outside perceptions," Brown said.

"Those things didn't help us last year when everyone thought we'd finish in the top four, so hopefully everyone's wrong again this year.

"We know we've had a good pre-season, we seem to have our injuries under control, touch-wood.

"There's a real solidarity about the group after what happened last year. We're very keen to make amends."

Jonathan Brown is a $361,000 forward in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition