When Jonathan Brown limped from the field after tearing his plantar fascia early in the Brisbane Lions’ Round 19 clash with St Kilda, some fans feared they might have seen the last of the 31-year-old.

But Brown’s decision to sign on for a 15^th AFL season ensures Lions fans will get to see him in action for at least one more season.

Brown told Melbourne radio station 3AW last month that his fate would be decided by a combination of factors.

“First and foremost, I want to tick the medical box. My operation's done and I got some good feedback from the surgeons going forward,” Brown said.

"I've still got the fire in the belly, but I want to make sure the body matches up with that and the coach's aspirations are the same.”

New Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch met with Brown immediately following his appointment, and obviously saw a need in having an experienced key forward at his disposal.

With a handful of developing young talls – including 198cm Hyundai Lions Academy draftee Jonathan Freeman who officially joined the Club on Monday – Brown will no doubt play a key role in helping them develop into senior AFL players.

Brown is now likely to become only the 13^th player in the Club’s combined history (Fitzroy and Bears included) to play 250 games, given he is currently just five games short of the milestone.
 
He is also just four goals shy of moving into outright third position on the Club’s all-time goal-kicking list ahead of Fitzroy champion and Lions Hall of Famer Bernie Quinlan (576 goals).

Meanwhile, the future of Brown’s premiership teammate Simon Black remains unclear.