Brisbane say young forward Josh Schache needs a rest and his return home to Victoria on leave is unrelated to a desire to find a new AFL club.
Schache, 19, is off-contract at season's end and is undecided if he'll remain at the bottom-placed Lions beyond 2017.
The second-year key has underperformed this year with six goals from six matches and was dropped by coach Chris Fagan last week.
The club has defended granting him leave, with football boss David Noble telling the AFL website rumours he would be weighing up interest from Victorian clubs while away were "bullshit."
Last year's top club draft pick Hugh McCluggage was given similar treatment earlier in the season to combat fatigue, the Lions said.
"Some of the young blokes get a bit tired. He's had a lot of pressure on him, Josh, with all the speculation of things," Lions chief executive Greg Swann told SEN radio on Thursday.
"So after last week's game, we just thought it'd be good for him to go home just to freshen up, so he'll be back at the club and hopefully back to good footy.
"He's just looking a bit tired and a little bit - I won't say stressed - but he looked a bit tired."
Swann said Brisbane hadn't given up hope of retaining no.2 draft pick Schache despite rumoured interest from clubs including Richmond.
"I think Josh is genuinely still making his mind up. There's been a few false starts along the way," Swann said.
"At one stage, earlier this year, we were talking about getting it done, then he said, 'look, I want to wait until I start playing better footy.'
"He hasn't said he's up and leaving, so from our point of view, he's our player, and until we know otherwise, we treat him like our player and we will continue to develop him."
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