BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss said while tempting, he had to err on the side of caution by leaving half back Josh Drummond out of Saturday night’s match against Richmond at the MCG.

Drummond has not played a senior match for 12 months after having a knee reconstruction last year and struggling with a quad injury so far this season.

After playing in the Lions’ reserves team last weekend, he was widely tipped to line up against the Tigers, either off the bench or as the substitution.

But Voss decided to keep him back for another week.

“Based on his preparation it was going to be pretty important for him to have a bit more time to get himself 100 percent,” Voss said.

“I thought the (reserves) game on the weekend was a chance for him to get a good feel, but he needs to raise the ante a little bit more this weekend before we can consider him.

“He understands, he knows where we’re coming from.

“Based on what this sub rule is doing, you need to be out there 100 percent, and we have to take that into consideration. We’d love him out there, we’re a better team when
he does play for us. We just need a little bit of patience.”

While the Lions’ attack on the contest has not been in question over their winless first month, their poise and finishing has been, making it even more tempting for Voss to rush the composed back half general back into the team.

But he said after a 12 month wait, one more week would not hurt.

The Lions are facing a Tigers outfit fresh from its first win of the season and the Voss said he expected the contest to be “tough and willing”.

“You come into every game thinking you’re a chance. We’ve got an opportunity to play at the ‘G again, which we only played a couple of weeks ago, against a good opposition
that’s playing very well and has tested other sides,” he said.

“There’s no place for mediocrity. The fact is, in the cold hard reality, we’re 0-4, we can spin it any way we like, but the fact is we need to be better than what we are to get the win and to this point of the season we haven’t stuck it all together to warrant a win.

“I think it’s going to be an absorbing battle.”