The Lions have badly missed their captain in their last two defeats to the Western Bulldogs and Richmond.
Voss admitted he stuck with Brown for too long while he was battling to overcome an abdominal injury.
“We took a couple of weeks longer than what we perhaps should have, but we had to make the call on the information that was in front of us," Voss told lions.com.au.
“He made some ground that looked promising ... but then he hovered for a couple of weeks and because of that it clearly showed he needed a rest to be able to recover.”
The Lions have slumped to 11th on the ladder, two games outside the top eight, with their finals hopes now virtually extinguished.
Voss rated the Lions performance up to the mid season break as largely disappointing, particularly as they were unbeaten after four rounds.
“I think the first four games for a number of reasons took it out of us, but more recently it has been because we haven’t been able to finish off our work,” Voss said.
“We certainly were in a lull, I think for a month there. We were flagging physically."
Voss said the Lions haven’t been able to execute their game style properly since the opening four rounds but that they would not be changing styles.
“We think that it’s worthwhile to persist with it,” Voss said.
“Make sure that the players come in and they learn what they have to do within it so that it becomes instinctive.
“Worst case scenario is that we’ve spent 12 months being able to learn what to do and then we get to practice it over a pre-season.”
Voss said he was pleased with how the players had stuck to the task despite a horror run of results.
With a host of injured stars set to return in the latter part of the season, Voss said making the finals was still possible.
“Their training has improved dramatically over the last month,” Voss said.
“I just believe that if we keep to task and we get our preparation right and we make sure that we ensure we’re ready that it will turn.
“We just hope that we have got enough time up our sleeve to make that happen.”
To read the full interview with Michael Voss, click here.
