BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews has flatly denied there is a rift between he and star forward Jonathan Brown, describing speculation to the contrary as “annoying.”

Brown, out of contract at season’s end, is yet to pledge his future to the Lions and there have been suggestions in Melbourne media that all may not be well between the co-captain and his three-time premiership winning coach.

But Matthews maintained he holds a strong relationship with his 26-year-old leading goal kicker.

“I keep reading that (there's a rift). There is nothing in it and Jonathan tells me there is nothing in it,” Matthews said on Friday.

“Players and coaches from week to week have a variety of views.

“But this has been made up to be an on-going permanent thing which I find very annoying – and I know Jonathan finds it very annoying too.

“From my point of view there is nothing in it, but a couple of people keep spreading it. Maybe they’ve got their own agendas.”

Matthews conceded he had initially been at odds with Brown over the Coleman medallist’s participation in the mid-year Hall of Fame Tribute Match – but said there were no lingering hard feelings.

Brown captained Victoria in the match, having missed the Lions’ previous outing with a quad injury.

“We were on a different page that week,” Matthews said.

“My thought was that if you are a little bit sore, don’t play, but he was really desperate to play. That’s nothing.”