BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss says he expects the club to cop a “kick in the guts” in 2011 when the new Gold Coast team bites into the Lions’ market share.

While admitting the second team would benefit the game in south-east Queensland in the long run, Voss said from a selfish viewpoint it might be a rugged period for the Lions.

He even said the club might need to be “propped up” as the AFL market coped with another team in the region.

“I’m forever in a situation where it’s about the game and the growth of the game,” he said.

“For the greater good of the game we hope it has a positive affect on our state and we get greater participation levels, greater interest, greater TV audiences, more people watching the game.

“So for us, as an off-shoot, we also know there’s going to be short-term pain associated with that. For a period of time, the club’s going to have to be propped up for us to reap the long-term benefits of that. As a club we’ll feel the initial kick in the guts.”

Voss said the challenge for the Lions now was to embrace the extra team and use it as a challenge to drive forward rather than an imposition to growth.

But one of the first hurdles the Lions and the rest of the AFL must overcome is the draft concession coming the Gold Coast’s way in 2010 and beyond.

Voss said while the draft system had been “seriously compromised” other issues were likely to be resolved over the same period.

“Who’s to say in that three years that free agency isn’t going to exist,” he said.

“So I would imagine there would be a fair amount of activity in that area of trades and free agency and drafts, and that has to be fairly well planned and well managed over that period of time to make sure you can maximise the opportunities that exist there, or lack of them.”

Read the full interview with Michael Voss