“In the professional era, when it’s people’s livelihoods, they’re going to try and negotiate their best deal and part of that is seeing what they’re worth in the market,” Matthews said.
“You could do without it but that’s the professional era … we see it up there (in Brisbane) in NRL; it’s happening so often it doesn’t even get in the newspapers.”
The Lions had a light run on Junction Oval ahead of their round 17 clash with Richmond at Telstra Dome on Saturday night, with Matthews confirming that star midfielder Luke Power is almost certain to play despite being under an injury cloud this week.
“He trained yesterday afternoon and did a fitness test … he’s 99% now.”
Richmond scouts were present to watch the Lions train but Matthews claimed the contingent wouldn’t gain too much knowledge from their visit.
“They won’t see a whole lot, it’s just a loosening up, ball work session. They’ll see them all running around and that’s what they’re here for… just like we were there (for their training session) this morning.”
While talk of Brown's contract has been rife in the media, Lions ruckman Jamie Charman said speculation about the power forward's future had barely raised a blip amongst Lions players.
“It hasn’t been brought up in Brisbane, so as a playing group we haven’t heard too much about it. It is only when you get down here that you hear anything about it," he said.
“We’d love him staying in Brisbane but ultimately that’s Browny’s decision and whatever he decides to do is up to him but we’d love to have him.”
