One of the real selection dilemmas facing the Brisbane Lions as they approach their season opener against Hawthorn on Saturday 22 March in Launceston will be whether to name spearhead Jonathan Brown.

Brown is obviously a walk-up start in the Lions’ best 22, however a limited pre-season means he is probably still not quite at peak match fitness.

The Club’s five-time leading goal-kicker had his first competitive hitout last Saturday against the Sydney Swans in Burpengary, and was expectedly rusty with just two touches in a half of football.

With the Lions’ forward structure still a work in progress, most would consider it an easy decision for the Lions to simply let Brown spearhead the attack against the Hawks.

But the Club can’t afford to have an underdone Brown face the reigning premiers and potentially risk doing more harm to his already battle-wearied body.

Even at 32 years of age, he is just way too valuable.

So the Lions will wait to see how Brown trains next week before making any definite decisions.  

“Browny looked good at the main session (on Wednesday). After Monday we’ll have a better understanding of how he is travelling,’’ General Manager of Football Operations Dean Warren told The Courier Mail.

“He is moving better and looking in better touch with every session. But that said, there’s 21 rounds to follow Round 1 and you want to do the best thing by him and not break him.”

Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch would have ideally loved for his former premiership teammate to have another practice match under his belt, but also knows that after 15 pre-seasons, Brown’s professionalism towards his preparation is second to none.

“Physically he has been ticked off,” Leppitsch said.

“The last thing I want is for Browny to run out there against the Hawks and not have his touch and not have his timing. That’s really what it is all about.”

“If he is really confident on those things, that’s good enough for me and I’ll back him and his judgment in.

“We will still have to see how he goes at training and make sure his movement is comfortable enough.

“You would like him to have another game because he really only has half a game under his belt but he was really good the other day at training.”