WHEN you mention the name Michael Voss, many things spring to mind - Brownlow medallist, three-time premiership captain, and one of the toughest footballers of the modern era.

But two of the things Voss holds dearest over his illustrious career will not appear on his remarkable resume.

Although his on-field achievements speak for themselves, the latest inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame is more proud of something else.

When his family moved from Traralgon in Victoria to Brisbane in 1987 when Voss was just 11, AFL was a minority sport in Queensland wedged somewhere between water polo and softball.

The Brisbane Bears had just entered the national competition and were playing out of Carrara on the Gold Coast, but in general the code was barely recognised north of the Tweed River.

By the time Voss hung up his boots in 2006, he had played a major role in elevating it to a mainstream sport that has continued to flourish to the point of a second team - Gold Coast.

"In 1987 when I first moved up here with the family to think we'd win a premiership in Queensland with the Brisbane Lions, of course it was the Brisbane Bears back then, you'd say it was ridiculous," he said.

"I was one of two people in my school playing AFL and copped heaps day after day after day about playing this Gay FL.

"We talk about Hall of Fame but one of the things I'm most proud of is the fact I'm a Queensland ambassador and this game has grown enormously over the time since I started playing.

"I hate Gold Coast but I can't help at the same time to have my breath taken away by how much our game has grown and how good it is they're part of us and a Queensland market that is growing.

"As a Queensland ambassador I could think of nothing greater than having another team just down the road. From when I first came up here to what it is now it's completely different, apples and oranges, and it's only going to grow form here so that can only be good for our code."

And Voss played more than a fair share in AFL's explosion in Queensland.

He played 289 matches for the Bears/Lions, shared a Brownlow Medal with James Hird in 1996, won three successive premierships as captain from 2001-2003 and won five club best and fairests and five All Australian selections along the way.

He said winning the Brownlow changed his life.

"Other opportunities started to come up and people start to talk about Michael Voss the Brownlow medallist. It's strange having something labelled straight after your own name," he said.

"It did change and it did change forever and it took a little while to work through that as a player but I came out the other end stronger.

It was no easy road for Voss. Before the premierships came along, he endured a horror 1998 season that not only saw the Lions collect the wooden spoon, but Voss collect one of the most graphic injuries in years when he smashed his leg in a collision with Fremantle's Shane Parker at Subiaco Oval.

Coming back from that injury is something else the current Lions coach also ranks right up there with any achievement in his career.

He won All Australian selection in 1999 despite not being able to train throughout the entire season due to the pain. He usually only came good the day before the match.

Voss had a steel rod down his leg and likened the pain from running with it to the vibration you get in your hands when you hit two steel bars together. Every step, every time. While relying on a fitness base built up over years to get him through, Voss said the whole exercise was emotionally draining.

"I know it sounds really quite strange but I see it as a bit of an achievement. It won't be on my CV anywhere, but to be able to get over a significant injury like that, that hurt a lot," he said.

"I thought If they cut my sock off, my leg was going to drop off, that's the state of mind I was in at the time, so a little disorientated. It probably took every bit of 18 months to get over that even though I did play in 1999. One of the better achievements I hold right up there is my 1999 All Australian jumper because I played through a lot of pain and a lot of discomfort that year and not many people would know that."

While not many people would know that, it would come as no surprise. Voss is universally regarded as one of the toughest players of this era. His fearless attack on the ball was second to none and his courage in the clinches was never questioned.

He thanks his first senior coach Robert Walls for that. Voss was a prodigiously talented junior and made his debut for the Bears as a 17-year-old.

The veteran coach was not letting a young Voss off the hook when he took his eyes off the ball in a match against Adelaide early in his career. His words would have a lasting affect.

"He pulled me aside and looked me straight in the eyes and said 'son, never do that again ever in your AFL career' so that always burnt in the back of my mind.

"It was the eyes, it's all in the eyes, when he looked straight at you like that it's a burning memory.

"There were two things he demanded, professionalism and work ethic. I learnt those two things off him more than anything else. You had to work hard and put your body on the line. I look up to Wallsy, he was a really important coach of mine."

As was his next coach Leigh Matthews. Voss shared incredible success alongside the Hawthorn legend and said Matthews taught him how to be a leader and how a captain should act to influence others.

And influence he did. After making the finals in 1999 and 2000 in Matthews' first two seasons in charge, he and Voss led them to three successive premierships - the first club to do so since Melbourne in the 1950s - in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Voss said they all held a different place in his heart. The Lions won 16 matches in succession to claim their first premiership from Essendon, were favourites for most of 2002 before beating Collingwood, and overcame injuries and setbacks to again defeat the Magpies in 2003.

"The first one was completely euphoric," he said.

"You dream about that for such a long time and to finally get that opportunity where you're not only standing up there but I'm also standing next to a guy I've seen do that in the '80s in Leigh Matthews was also just a dream come true.

"2002 was a completely different year for us, we were expected to win the premiership the whole year. Anything less would have been an absolute failure in everyone's eyes so I felt an over-riding sense of relief.

"The third was disbelief in many ways. It was hard to think how you could possibly win three in a row. Look at Geelong team just recently and I think they can acknowledge how hard it is to go all the way and a lot has to go right. To get that was complete disbelief."

With his playing days now behind him Voss is in his third season of coaching the Lions with wife Donna, twins Casey and Kayla and daughter Gemma a foundation of support he could not do without.

"As footballers we're pretty selfish, but what the kids do is they level you," he said.

"When you're tense and up tight they want you and they treat you as dad and you're no different to them. To have that sort of levelling influence was really important to me.

"Every day they remind me just how much they love me. They leave little notes in my books or they always give me words of encouragement even through the recent five or six weeks (of Lions struggles). They mean everything to me.

So whether it's premierships, a Brownlow Medal, All Australian selections or the mark he has left in Queensland, Michael Voss's stamp on AFL always had him destined for the Hall of Fame.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL