BRISBANE ruckman Jamie Charman will be able to play in the first home-and-away game of 2009 after being cleared of striking at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night
The Lions successfully argued that contact between Charman and Sydney's Brett Kirk was not of sufficient force to constitute a strike.
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BRISBANE LIONS chairman Tony Kelly has dismissed suggestions that the Lions acted hastily in appointing Michael Voss as coach just a day after the resignation of the club's three-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews.
The three-time premiership captain has no previous coaching experience but has agreed to a three-year deal.
The Lions' swift decision meant Voss quickly had to get out of his two-year deal to serve as an assistant coach at West Coast.
Kelly said on Tuesday that the club had begun discussing the possibility of Voss succeeding Matthews - as early as March - with Matthews' permission.
"The reason it's important to announce that is that people understand this club has carried out a massive due diligence on Michael Voss and that is why we have been able to announce his appointment within 24 hours of Leigh's resignation," Kelly said.
"But that succession plan was unable to be consummated because of a lack of an end date for Leigh,."
"We have been able to move swiftly due to the fact Leigh came to me early in the year to put together a succession plan concept involving Michael," Kelly said.
"The question was when it would happen, how it would happen or could it happen - it was an issue we had to address but we got the chance to address it late Sunday (when Matthews told the club he would resign)."
Kelly said the club was unconcerned by the fact that Voss had not had any coaching experience at an AFL club.
"He has not coached at AFL level but everyone has to start somewhere and we are going to back him all the way," he said.
"I see a lot of the qualities of Leigh Matthews in Michael - a strong manager, whose leadership skills are well documented."
Kelly also said the Lions did not go for Voss just because of his standing in Queensland.
"Michael is coaching the Lions because we believe he will be a good coach," Kelly said.
"The fact he is a big name and the fact he understands the Queensland market and the club are little bonuses but we believe Michael's job is to be the coach."
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MICHAEL Voss has been named as Brisbane's new coach just 24 hours after Leigh Matthews stepped down.
Voss has signed a three-year deal with the Lions and will officially start at the club after completing his current broadcasting commitments with Network Ten for the 2008 AFL finals series.
Voss said he was excited about continuing his career at Brisbane.
"It has been my football club for a long period of time and the fact it’s going to be a part of my future for hopefully a long period of time is something that I’m exceptionally excited about," Voss said.
"From my point of view, I just can’t wait to get started and get stuck into it."
Even when Voss took up an assistant coaching role at West Coast, rather than a head position with the new Gold Coast franchise, the door was always open for the three-time premiership captain to return.
Lions chairman Tony Kelly revealed that Matthews, Voss and the board had been meeting as early as March this year to discuss a succession plan that would kick in after the departure of the head coach.
Voss played 289 games for the Bears and then the Lions and won the Brownlow Medal in 1996.
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BRISBANE chairman Tony Kelly says he tried to talk Leigh Matthews out of his decision to quit as the club's coach.
Kelly admitted on Monday that he was hoping the four-time premiership coach would change his mind.
"I asked him about 10 times 'are you sure, are you sure?' for my own satisfaction but he was quite positive," Kelly said.
Kelly said Matthews, who led the club to three successive premierships in 2001-03, was the 'complete package'.
"He was the complete package for the Brisbane Lions," he said.
"He was a strong leader, strong on discipline, had a powerful work ethic, was a manager and a teacher and had an insatiable appetite to win."
"He was also fair and honest and he created the environment for the development of our players into a hard-edged premiership combination."
Kelly also said Matthews had made an enormous contribution to the growth of the game in Queensland.
"His contribution to AFL in our developing market of Queensland has been outstanding," he said.
"I know of no other person who is as passionate about his job and the industry he is in - he lives and breathes AFL football and he loved his team and the players but he didn't suffer timid efforts."
Matthews will be awarded life membership of the club at the Lions' best and fairest count in October.
Kelly said the club will hold a board meeting on Monday night to begin discussions as to who should succeed Matthews.
"We need to act quickly and decisively," he said.
"But I am not speculating on any names - today is all about Leigh Matthews - and I'm sure when I pick up the papers tomorrow I will see a list of all the candidates."
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BRISBANE LIONS star Jonathan Brown has dismissed suggestions that he only agreed to remain with the club once he learned that coach Leigh Matthews was quitting.
Brown signed a new four-year deal on the same day that Matthews announced he was quitting with a year remaining on his contract.
The three-time premiership forward said it was merely a coincidence that his staying and Matthews' departure had been announced at the same time.
"I came to terms (with the club) over the weekend," he said.
"It (his new contract) had already been done (before Matthews made his decision to quit) so obviously it had no bearing on it."
Brown admitted he was 'shocked' by Matthews' decision but said life at the club must go on.
"He had 12 months to go on his contract, it's all happened pretty quickly but we get the chance now to celebrate what has been a great career," he said.
"There is also sadness because Leigh has been my only coach and he has been a fantastic mentor and coach and more importantly friend."
"We all there to get on with the job and try to help this footy club succeed."
"I have been around the game long enough now to realise I have to get the best out of myself and that is my job."
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LEIGH Matthews says he quit as Brisbane coach because he didn't want to stay on a year too long.
Matthews, who was still contracted for another year, informed the club on Sunday that he wished to end his 10 years in charge of the club.
Speaking on Monday, Matthews said the time had come for him to quit as coach.
"I always thought I wanted to go a year early rather than a year late," he said.
"There is no right time to go, there is only this time."
Matthews, who will remain in Queensland, didn't rule out coaching again but said he had no future plans.
"I haven't resigned to do anything else and that is what is scary," he said.
Matthews also said the fact his team has failed to make the finals in the past four years played no role in his decision.
"The future prospects of the team have got nothing with where I saw things," he said.
"It's just time for me to move on for my own psyche and for the rejuvenation of this footy club."
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BRISBANE star Jonathan Brown has ended months of speculation about his future by signing a new four-year deal with the Lions.
Brown had been involved in contract talks with the club since the middle of the year and as each week passed without a breakthrough, speculation grew that the three-time premiership forward would return to Victoria.
But the 26-year-old said he was in for the long haul and that it was up to him to lead the Lions into a new era.
Brown has played 160 games for Brisbane since making his debut in 2000, but, as a result of injury, only managed to play every game in a season once in his first seven years.
He enjoyed his best season last year, winning his first club best-and-fairest award, his first All-Australian guernsey and the Coleman Medal.
Brown backed up his brilliant 2007 season with 70 goals in 2008 to move to third on Brisbane's all-time goalkicking list with 338
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LEIGH Matthews' reign as Brisbane coach has come to an end after ten years in the job.
Matthews, who made the announcement at a press conference on Monday morning, joined the Lions in 1999, four years after his ten-year tenure at Collingwood ended.
He immediately took the Lions from wooden-spooners to preliminary finalists in the space of 12 months before guiding the club to three straight premierships between 2001 and 2003.
However, the Lions have been unable to make the finals since it reached the last of its four consecutive grand finals in 2004, which it lost to Port Adelaide.
Matthews is one of only seven men to have won four premierships as coach, having broken the Magpies' 32-year premiership drought in 1990.
He also enjoyed a decorated playing career, playing 332 matches and booting 915 goals for Hawthorn between 1969 and 1985.
Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Matthews also won four premiershps with the Hawks.
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BRISBANE midfielder Bradd Dalziell has been rewarded for his impressive start to his AFL career with the round 21 NAB Rising Star nomination.
Dalziell racked up 32 possessions on debut against West Coast in round 16 and has played every match since, averaging over 26 disposals per game.
The 21-year-old, who was overlooked in the 2005 and 2006 drafts, was compared to Lions greats Shaun Hart and Nigel Lappin by Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews.
"He has been incredible in his ability to link up and get to the right spots when we need someone to run into space," Matthews said.
"You need to be an extremely talented endurance athlete to keep getting into spots that other people can't get to because they are too tired."
"When you watch him play a game, he runs really hard. He's doing a little bit of what Shaun Hart and Nigel Lappin used to do."
Dalziell was selected with pick 52 in the 2007 national draft.
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BRISBANE midfielder Nigel Lappin has called it quits following an ongoing achilles injury which has sidelined him since round four this season.
He will be given a farewell lap of honour before the club's round 21 home game against Carlton on Saturday night.
Lappin said he was frustrated at the way his career has ended.
"It's hard not to live in the moment, and for me at the moment I haven't been able to get what I want out of footy," Lappin said.
"So at the moment I'm sort of frustrated, I have been frustrated by what has happened this year.
"But my career as a whole has been really successful."
The latter stages of his career have been ruined by injury with the 32-year-old playing just 38 of the Lions' 86 games since the 2004 grand final loss to Port Adelaide. He first dislocated an ankle in 2005 and re-injured it before the start of the following year, which caused him to miss all of 2006.
Lappin admitted his bad run with injuries had taken its toll.
"Mentally I was a little bit tired," he said.
"I was waking up and not really looking forward to playing footy as I had in previous years, and you just get the feeling it is time."
He also said he would remain a part of the Lions squad until the end of the season before taking a few months off to contemplate his future.
Lappin made his debut with the Brisbane Bears in 1994 and was an integral member of the Lions' premiership sides between 2001 and 2003, making up one-quarter of the side's "Fab four" midfield.
The 279-game veteran, who leaves as the club's third-longest serving player enjoyed a decorated career that also included a best-and-fairest (2004), four All-Australian guernseys (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), International Rules representation (2001) and the Lions' best finals player award (2001).
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