Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews has resisted the temptation to rest his leading players for Friday's NAB Cup semi-final against Geelong at Telstra Dome despite three weeks on the road.Matthews was highly-critical of the AFL after last Friday night's victory over the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne for handing the Lions three successive road trips during the NAB Cup.Brisbane met the Saints in Cairns in the club's first round fixture and Matthews believes the Lions were entitled to host the Cats at Carrara this weekend.Speaking ahead of training at Coorparoo on Wednesday, Matthews said he was at least pleased to be playing on Friday night this week so he could give his players a Sunday off.He said that with a lengthy injury list, as many as 12 Lions players are due a well-deserved break."Simon Black and Luke Power, for instance, both played about 70 minutes last week and about 80 minutes the week before," Matthews said."They haven’t had a whole lot of match minutes so, on that basis, we didn’t think there was any need to rest anyone that was perfectly fit and well."Matthews confirmed that Jamie Charman, Ben Fixter and Matthew Moody would be three of the players not travelling to Melbourne on Thursday.Charman has soreness in his achilles tendon but will be available for the NAB Cup Grand Final if the Lions are able to get past the Cats.