I OFTEN get asked for my thoughts on other forwards in the competition, their strengths and weaknesses, who is the best.

And the bloke I believe is the best forward in the game will be standing at the opposite end of the Gabba to me tomorrow night. Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown is not only the best forward in the game — he's averaging six goals in his past five games — but also the best player in the competition.

In the past, he's been restricted by a lack of preparation through injury, but with the benefit of a full pre-season and, from what we know, a relatively injury-free run, he's hitting his straps.

Brown is the perfect prototype of a modern-day footballer — 195 centimetres and 102 kilograms and adaptable. He's strong, he has a presence, he's a strong mark, his aerobic capacity is amazing and now his fitness is right as well.

Even last year, he went to the midfield and was getting more than 20 possessions a game and having an impact there as well.

Right at the moment, he is dominating games. Opposition coaches are always trying to put extra numbers back to cover him, but Brown's aerobic capacity means he can have two opponents and he just outworks them. When on his game he is almost unstoppable; it will be interesting this week with my teammate in defence Craig Bolton in great form as well.

Not too far behind Brown are St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt and Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich. Both are similar to Brown with good aerobic capacity.

Riewoldt is also one of the best marks in the league and not a lot of players can go with him because he's fairly quick as well. Pavlich can also run, he's quick and he's strong and he uses that strength to his advantage.

Another forward worth mentioning is the Bulldogs' Brad Johnson. He's a smaller forward, but very hard to match up on. He's quick, he runs and keeps running and, despite his size, he's very good overhead, and always bobs up and kicks goals.

And then you've got guys such as Brendan Fevola who, on his day, can win a game for his team, and Lance Franklin who, if he keeps his head straight, could be anything.

And speaking of Browns, Franklin's teammate Campbell Brown made a few waves this week when he revealed he had lied to help Eagles captain Chris Judd get off a gouging charge earlier this year.

Ever since I can remember there has always been an unspoken code that you stick up for other players in that instance. If someone committed a crime, of course you do the right thing and tell the police if you know something, but I think it's a bit different in this case. We're all sportsmen, it's a high-pressure game, you get brain explosions sometimes and do silly things.

While I'm not condoning blatantly lying about something, I just wouldn't like to see the day where guys are dobbing each other in.