Brown completed a series of impressive sprints before training on Tuesday night and is fully recovered from a knee injury which required minor surgery last year.
His first hit out for the year against the Demons has instilled confidence in the Lions key centre half forward.
“I was happy with the way I got through,” Brown said.
“I came off the ground feeling fresh and could have played another half.
“Now I’ll try and play at least three quarters, hopefully a full game on Friday and that should round off my preparation nicely.”
The Lions could only managed four goals against the Demons, going down by 37 points in a rain sodden encounter at Cazaly Stadium.
The loss highlighted the lack of time the Lions key forwards have spent in operation together.
“It’s just taken a little bit of time to get together with Braddy (Daniel Bradshaw) and Mitch Clark,” Brown said.
“We haven’t been able to play much game time together.
“The crumbing forwards have shown they’re starting to get into the right positions, especially against St Kilda they bobbed up and kicked a few goals.”
Brown says injuries have robbed the Lions of fielding their best 22 so far, but he expects a more complete outfit against Richmond at Gold Coast Stadium on Friday night.
The Lions should be bolstered by the likely inclusion of Ashley McGrath, Tim Notting and Justin Sherman who were rested against Melbourne.
Jared Brennan will sit out the game against Richmond as medicos try to work out what’s wrong with his quad.
The in-form Brennan missed 14 weeks with a quad injury in 2005.
Scans have so far been inconclusive so Brennan will be wrapped in cotton wool until at least round one of the regular season.
The Lions haven’t beaten Richmond since round 14, 2004, something they are hoping to change.
“I don’t think we’ve scored well enough in those games that we have played against them,” Brown said.
“Last year I put it down to not being able to stay composed under pressure, I think we were 25 points up at three quarter time.”
With just one game left to impress new coach Michael Voss, Brown has tipped Tom Collier and James Polkinghorne as a couple of rising stars to be pushing for senior selection come round one.
Dream Team watch – Jonathan Brown is rated a $389,200 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
