BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews is confident that Simon Black’s osteitis pubis injury is under control. The star midfielder missed the club’s round seven tussle with Geelong as well as the Hall of Fame tribute match due to the complaint, but has been in terrific form since his return registering 28 disposals in the Lions’ victories over Carlton and St. Kilda.

“I get the feeling if we tried to put him on the field against Geelong we might still be in trouble but as soon as the symptoms came up we stopped him straight away,” Matthews said.

“He came off the game fine on the weekend. It’s a thing that if it pops up you’ve got to nip it in the bud. He’s certainly played well over the last few weeks… but we’ve got to make sure that it doesn’t become debilitating.”

As for this weekend’s match up with North Melbourne, Matthews said that providing everyone gets through training, the team will be unchanged.

“It’s a reflection of how the guys are going. The feeling from the match committee is that the 22 that went on the field last week is probably the best 22 to go on the field this week against the Kangaroos.

“Our injury list is small by its normal standard over the last few years. We’ve probably only got half a dozen players unavailable this weekend. There are a lot of guys playing reserves well but not enough to push anyone out this week.”

As for Matthews’ own milestone this weekend when he coaches his 449th game and joins Norm Smith at eighth on the list of all time longest serving coaches, he was remaining coy.

“I’ve had about two hours to think about it because somebody told me about two hours ago that it was happening, so I’ve given it some thought, that’s it, I’ve given it some thought.”