ONE OF the AFL's least experienced players could be handed one of the toughest tasks - stopping Jonathan Brown in the Brisbane Lions' AFL blockbuster against Collingwood tomorrow night.
Magpies coach Mick Malthouse today refused to rule out playing rookie Nathan Brown on his Lions namesake at the Gabba - despite the fact the Collingwood defender has played just one game.
Malthouse did not try to play down the challenge, describing the Lions co-captain as an "out-and-out champion".
But the Collingwood mentor appeared to be encouraged by his 19-year-old's effort on debut against Matthew Pavlich in their opening round 26-point defeat of Fremantle at the MCG.
Asked if putting Brown on the Lions talisman was too big an ask, Malthouse said tonight: "When you are in the side it doesn't matter what your age is - we don't go on age.
"And if you are a positional player who plays that key back then your responsibility is to play on key forwards.
"It might be a senior player who plays on him (Brown) Shane Wakelin, Nick Maxwell or Nathan Brown who is coming into his second game.
"If it is the latter two they will learn from the experience. If it's the former, well, has he got more to learn at 33, I don't know."
Malthouse did not expect Jonathan Brown to show the effects of last round when the Lions' Coleman Medallist was so dehydrated at halftime he had blurred vision.
If anything, Malthouse talked up the Lions forward's threat.
"He worked himself into the ground, it happens. I'm sure he wasn't complaining about it - he tends to do extraordinary things," Malthouse said of Jonathan Brown's game last weekend.
"Look, he's an absolute out and out champion.
"One thing we are not going to be doing is calling on three or four players and think that they are going to jump in and stop him and let three or four others to run amok."
Jonathan Brown has since played down the round one incident in the Lions’ 16 point loss to the West Coast at Perth.
Brisbane may have claimed the latest round in their growing rivalry - a 93-point thrashing in round 17 last year - but Jonathan Brown didn't think the Lions had bragging rights.
"You won't get me on that one - they nearly made the grand final last year, they are very well coached," Brown said.
"They started off with a win last week and we started off with a loss - it's a very important game for us.
"You want to start off with a victory in the first home game of the year to get the fans excited.
"Last week we showed some good signs but didn't come away with the points - we need to be more consistent."
In other news, Lions officials tonight said a clash with a Brisbane-North Queensland NRL blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium had not affected ticket sales.
They expect the Gabba record of 37,224 set at the Lions-Collingwood clash in round 15 in 2005 to be broken.
