JONATHAN Brown believes he can have an impact this year despite a limited pre-season.
 
The former Brisbane Lions captain has been hampered by an ongoing foot injury and will not take part in the NAB Challenge.
 
However, he is hopeful of being fit for the Lions' first premiership match against Hawthorn on March 22.
 
Brown, 32, missed the final four weeks of last season with a plantar fascia injury that required surgery and a three-month lay-off.
 
After resuming training in strong fashion, he suffered ongoing complications but the powerful forward said he was ready to rejoin the main training group in the next fortnight.
 
"It's going to be hard to fit a practise match in, (I will) probably run out of time, so I'll aim to be ready for round one," Brown said.
 
"My foot feels good, (I am) over all the problems, so hopefully now it'll be smooth sailing for the next six weeks.
 
"I've been here plenty of times where I've had a limited pre-season and still been able to cope once the season starts."
 
Brown was joined by teammates Pearce Hanley and draftees Nick Robertson and Darcy Gardiner as they spoke at Woodcrest State College as part of the Australia Post Community Camp.
 
Having recently stepped down from the leadership role, the captain of seven years said it was time for the club to move on.
 
Despite a reduced role, Brown said he would not be changing his style of play one bit.
 
"I always said 90 per cent of leadership is what goes on on game day and the training track, and that won't change for me," Brown said.
 
"They'll still get the same Jonathan Brown on the footy field and I won't change my game because I'm not the captain."
 
One thing Brown said would change was the Lions' lead-in to the pre-season fixtures, after winning last year's NAB Cup and then starting the premiership season poorly.
 
"Last year we probably tapered off our training early for a good NAB Cup, which we did have, but we'll probably train through over the next five to six weeks, keep our fitness going and then ease back off going into round one," he said.
 
"It's important to be up and going before round one, but you don't want to be peaking before the season starts."
 
The Lions play their first NAB Challenge match against Hawthorn next Thursday at Etihad Stadium.