BRISBANE LIONS coach Leigh Matthews says injury niggles are making it difficult for star forward Jonathan Brown to produce anywhere near his best football.

The Lions co-captain had minimal impact during Saturday's big loss to Hawthorn in Launceston, in which he managed just six disposals, four marks and one goal.

While Matthews did not specify exactly what was hampering his star forward, he said a range of minor fitness problems were making it a challenge for him just to take the field.

"He's got enormous courage, Browny, to get out there, but he's got a lot of things that he's coping with," Matthews said on Monday.

"Anyone who goes to training knows he just can't get out there Wednesdays, so he's barely getting out there from week to week.

"It's very difficult when you do that because you de-train a little bit, just playing weekends and getting up for the following weekend. It makes it very tough to play anywhere near the level you are capable of."

The Lions' predicament simply doesn't allow for resting players, especially key forwards. Saturday's 69-point loss, their fifth in six games, leaves the club ninth and needing to finish the home-and-away season strongly to be any chance of playing finals.

"He'll play all the games, by the look of it," Matthews said.

"Everyone has their strengths and their vulnerabilities."

Matthews said despite the team's disappointing recent run, he believed they were the equal of any side outside the top three and were still in with a genuine finals chance.

"I sort of feel like from fourth to 12th you can't say that fourth is (a) better (team) than 12th," Matthews said.

"But someone will finish fourth and fifth and sixth because they've won more games than the team that finishes 12th. And it's probably going to be a handful of games.

"I believe we have the capabilities to play finals, and we have to win the last three to do that, and that's a big percentage ask."

While the Lions were outclassed by the Hawks, Matthews said they held their own against the other sides battling for spots in the bottom of the eight, such as against fifth-placed North Melbourne the previous round on the Gold Coast.

"The Kangaroos have won their last five, and we had every chance of beating Kangaroos if we played a better last few minutes," he said.

"It's a matter of which game you take. So on that basis I think we've got the same capabilities as the teams that are in and around the top eight."

The Lions play the Western Bulldogs, Carlton and the Sydney Swans in their remaining three games.

Meanwhile, Matthews refused to comment on Brown's protracted contract negotiations. His current deal with the Lions expires at the end of this season.