BRISBANE Lions star Jonathan Brown has angrily denied speculation he only re-signed with the club after he learnt coach Leigh Matthews had resigned.
When Matthews made his shock announcement on Monday, Brown announced at the same media conference that he had committed to the Lions.
Brown's future with the club has been one of the talking points of the season.
The star forward has angrily denied a widespread rumour that as late as Friday, he was headed to Collingwood.
"In my own words, to start off, I will say it's bulls***," he said on Channel Nine's The Footy Show.
Brown said more than a week before Saturday night's season-ending loss to Sydney Swans, he gave his word to Lions football manager Graeme "Gubby" Allen.
But they could not finalise the details until Allen returned from a trip to Ireland.
"I knew 10 days before the Sydney game," Brown said.
"Gubby said are we right? And I said `we're right mate' - obviously the football people couldn't get together until Gubby was back.
"The first time that happened was on Saturday morning, before the Sydney game, when they could meet with my manager and do the finalisation of the deal.
"I was shocked on Sunday when I heard Leigh was going to give it away - obviously the first thing I thought was `well, gee, this is going to look bad, you know what the conspiracy theorists are going to be saying'."
The club will not confirm details of the contract but the new deal effectively means Brown will end his stellar football career with the Lions.
Brown added he had a healthy relationship with Matthews and they had not fallen out.
"Leigh Matthews is a very good friend of mine," he said.