BRISBANE Lions coach Justin Leppitsch is satisfied with Steven May's five-week suspension, but says his primary focus all along has been Stefan Martin's welfare.
Martin was concussed by May's shirtfront last Saturday night, but has recovered strongly and needs to only get through Thursday's main session to play the Western Bulldogs this weekend.
Leppitsch said May's suspension was consistent with what most pundits had expected.
"These are things for the game, not me as coach," Leppitsch said.
"I mean, it's about eliminating it from the game.
"It could have been us on the receiving end; it could have been anybody.
"Once the action stopped it's all about Stef's welfare for us from the game forward; it has nothing to do with us at all apart from that."
Martin has passed two concussion tests this week and even sat in a courtroom murder trial on Monday as part of his university studies.
Leppitsch said the Lions' doctors would make the final call on Martin's availability following the training session.
"You have to get through the physical element, and not get headaches and things like that, which he hasn't had to date, but this is probably one of the biggest workloads he'll do and if he gets through that I can't see why he won't play," he said.
Captain Tom Rockliff is in a similar boat, needing to complete the session to return after two weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury.
Leppitsch said he was pleased with the Lions' opening month given the strength of their opposition, and now wanted to see improvement in skills – particularly goalkicking.
The Lions are ranked 16th for goalkicking accuracy and frittered away numerous gettable chances that almost cost them victory over Gold Coast.
"When the first guy misses, the second guy's under twice as much pressure and when he misses, the third guy … it just keeps going up, and by the eighth guy he just doesn't even want the ball.
"That's the way it works and nothing's changed in 100 years of footy there.
"What's going to have to happen this week is the first guy's just going to have to kick the goal and settle us down, and it's normally the set shot more than the running shot.
"It's really important to finish off the good work we're doing."
Trending Articles
Opposition Watch: Western Bulldogs
