BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss has weighed in to the verbal stoush ahead of Saturday night's match against Gold Coast, saying the match was "personal" and Suns coach Guy McKenna was out of line with comments earlier in the week.

On Tuesday McKenna said Gold Coast had been included in the AFL to clean up the "mess" left behind by the Brisbane Bears when they were based at Carrara from 1987-1992 before moving to Brisbane and ultimately merging with Fitzroy.

Speaking publicly for the first time this week, Voss said McKenna and the Suns should be thanking the Lions for the contribution they had made to AFL in Queensland.

The Lions coach said Saturday's match was personal after he felt like the club's origins had been attacked.

"I guess when you've got your home turf invaded a bit you can't help but make it feel a little personal. I think it's something the players have spoken about so clearly it means something to them," Voss said.

"You certainly don't like having your origins had a crack at. I would have thought thanks would have been a more appropriate response perhaps."

Voss backed Brownlow medallist Simon Black's comments that former Lions Jared Brennan and Michael Rischitelli were 'mercenaries' for leaving Brisbane and heading south in the off-season.

Voss said the comment by the quietly-spoken Black showed how hurt the players were by their departure.

"You become close to each other," he said. "Especially when we were doing it a bit tough last year, players leave and I was never quite sure what it meant to the players but I guess I do now."

After the verbal jousting of the past five days, Voss said it was important for the Lions to concentrate on the footy and nothing else as they searched to break their duck (0-5) this season.

After admiring the Showdown and Derby rivalries over the years, he said the players had to be mindful of not letting their emotions get in the way.

"It's important that while it might be a bit personal, you don't treat it that way and you don't do silly things and that the aggression is at the ball, and we've still go to make that our object and nothing changes there," he said.

"I would hope we approach each contest with the same ferocity and attack on the footy and that's the things we'll talk about. These are the things we'll talk about at the end of the game, it's about the contest, the clashes, the individual battles, that's what we want to be talking about by the end of the game."

Melbourne Storm rugby league coach Craig Bellamy was an interested onlooker at the Lions' closed training session.

Voss said he admired the Storm for many season.

Lions captain Jonathan Brown continued his rehabilitation from a broken jaw with some testing one-on-one marking contests with assistant coach Jade Rawlings.

Brown is expected back in two weeks against North Melbourne.