BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss has commended troubled forward Brendan Fevola for finding the courage to admit he has a gambling addiction.

Fevola admitted on Thursday night he had a long-term gambling problem but has spent the last 10 weeks undergoing counselling for his addiction.

Voss said Fevola told him about his problem back in January and has applauded the 29-year-old for coming clean.

“It’s been 10 odd weeks or probably even further than that since it came to light. In the background he’s been dealing with it and seeking some specialist advice...he’s been very proactive,” Voss said on Friday morning.

“We were aware there were things going on but as you’re aware it’s pointless unless the person comes to you and says I want to do something about it. That takes courage to be able to do it and it takes courage to be able to say it publicly. I commend him.”

The Brisbane Lions had planned to go public with Fevola’s gambling addiction on Sunday, but decided to end the building speculation with a public admission on Thursday night.

“We had a plan to go forward with the public on Wednesday but we still had some matters that needed to be addressed,” Voss said.

“So then we had all intensive purposes on doing it on Sunday but we sort of thought instead of rumouring and running around it for the next three days, he’s in a good place to address it now, so we did.”

While Fevola is seeking professional help to deal with his addiction, Voss admitted there was a long road ahead for the forward.

“He’s not out of the woods and he’s not pretending that he is but I think he is somewhat relieved that he can now go forward...and he can get on with what he needs to do. It hasn’t detracted from what he wants to do here and he didn’t want it to have an impact on the players,” Voss said.

Fevola’s admission comes two days out from the Lions clash against the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba, but Voss insisted the latest Fevola headline would not be a distraction for his side.

“Not worried about it (timing) at all because it’s got to do with Fev,” Voss said.

“We’re playing the Western Bulldogs tomorrow and that’s where our focus firmly lies and the players are really keen to play this game and it’s a pretty big game for us. They’re a very good side and they’ve had our measure so for us to be able to get out there and compete against a good side is pretty important to us.”

Fevola parted ways with Carlton during the off-season after a series of off-field misdemeanours, culminating with an embarrassing display at last year’s Brownlow medal, but has since tried to make a fresh start at the Brisbane Lions.

“Everything that he’s done at our football club has been about being able to want a fresh start, about being able to concentrate on his footy and let his footy do the talking,” Voss said.

“That’s what his firm focus has been and he’s determined to do it and I commend him for that. It takes a lot of courage to be able to do that and then to be publicly put up there for criticism and judgement- and he’s done that so we should applaud him for being able to do that.

“His focus has been firmly on making sure that he puts his best foot forward for our club and he’s done that. It’s not like this happened last week, this has been going on for a while and he’s been able to get out there and perform and gel with the team so I’m not concerned about the impact on the team.”