After playing injured for a number of weeks, the Lions’ skipper was a late withdrawal from the team that was thrashed by the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
“We thought the program he was on would get him through,” Voss said after his side went down by 65 points.
“He certainly got himself to 90 per cent fit, but he’s hovered there for a couple of weeks now and we don’t want to keep doing that.
“We want to find that last 10 per cent, and that last 10 per cent requires rest. I would’ve thought it would be for at least four weeks.”
Voss admitted Brown wanted to keep playing, but the coaching and medical staff had to step in.
“The one thing I know about competitors is they’ll always inflate exactly how they are, I realise that,” he said.
“My job as the coach has been to try and read his body-language more than anything else, because you expect Browny to want to be there.
“He was adamant he wanted to play, but at some point in time the coach has to save you from yourself.”
Voss acknowledged the Lions need to come up with a better-functioning attack if they are to be competitive in Brown’s absence.
Small forward Amon Buchanan was the team’s leading scorer against the Bulldogs with three goals, while Brendan Fevola struggled to have any impact on the contest.
He was held to two goals by Dale Morris and looked frustrated during most of the game.
“I thought Mitch Clark at different times was quite useful but they certainly got numbers back quickly,” Voss said after his team lost the inside-50 count 58 to 45.
“It wasn’t so much this week about what we did inside-50. We just had trouble getting it there.
“Because of that the supply dried up and we’ve really got to do a lot of work on that.”
