BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss has thrown his support behind defender Matt Maguire, saying he had no problem with his attack on the contest that led to Jonathan Brown's fractured cheekbone last week.

Speaking on Fox Footy's On The Couch on Monday night, Voss said the incident was purely an accident.

A number of commentators, including AFL legend Leigh Matthews and Geelong premiership forward Cameron Mooney, described Maguire's attempted spoil as reckless, but Voss was having none of that.

He said Maguire's commitment was indicative of the message that you needed to train as hard as you played.

"At the moment for us, we're learning about what it takes to compete continually and sometimes at practice you have to do those things," Voss said.

"We're teaching our team how to compete on the training track as well as on game day and there's certain expectations that we have.

"When you're teaching a group of players how to treat a contest there's certain non-negotiables that you need to be able to see, that's part of their development.

"It's pretty important they understand the expectations of what they need to deliver on game day."

Voss said it was unfortunate Brown was injured in the process, but described the contest between he and Maguire as innocuous.

He said the Lions' skipper slightly stumbled when Maguire went to spoil and that's when the knee collected him.

The Lions have guidelines at training that try to protect players from injuries.

"We have some rules about slinging players in tackles in training and there are certain parameters. He didn't come from a long way away, it was just an accident," he said.

Voss also spoke about the retirement of his triple premiership teammate Luke Power late last season, before the 32-year-old back-flipped and signed with GWS.

"It's got to be the worst job sitting down with a player … certainly when he's been a premiership mate and he's been such a warrior for your football club, to have to have that discussion but you've got to do it," he said.

Voss said he was disappointed Power had signed with the Giants, but understood his decision.

"I'd rather he didn't because he's been a legend of our football club but at the same time he found an exciting new challenge for himself and I completely understand that."

Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting

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