Brisbane Lions champion Simon Black battles mystery bug in milestone match Brisbane champion Simon Black, in the red jacket, was subbed off in his record-breaking match due to illness. SIMON Black has battled through a mystery 10-day illness that has severely affected his sleep and led to feelings of anxiousness on training days. Black's record breaking 319th appearance ended in bizarre fashion when he was subbed off in the third quarter of the Lions' 40 point loss to Fremantle at Patersons Stadium yesterday. He had been Brisbane's best player in the opening half. The triple premiership hero admitted after the game to being confused and concerned by his condition over the past 10 days, especially the sleeplessness, and said he would consult the club doctor. He said he did not ask to be subbed off but had told the runners he was battling and he had no objections when the decision was made by the coach. "I don't think I've ever struggled that badly," he said. I didn't feel great coming into the game and to be honest I have been pretty flat for about 10 days. Something is not right. Coach Michael Voss said he reluctantly pulled Black out of the game. "He was battling physically," he said. I will have to talk to Blacky about what was wrong, we will have to look at that. Black's stunning revelation adds greater weight to his performance. He was the leading clearance player on the ground with five and had also taken the ball away from centre bounces more times than any other player when he was subbed off. By full time no one had caught him. The score was 6.7 (43) to 3.7 (25) at the time. By the final siren Fremantle had blown it out to 12.14 (86) to 6.10 (46). The clearances were 24-23 in Fremantle's favour when Black left the field, but they dominated Brisbane in his absence finishing the game with a 36-28 advantage. He had 12 possessions, six of them contested, which was more than any other player and his two inside-50 entries hit-up leading forwards Ash McGrath and Rohan Bewick who both got shots on goal. Black's teammates honoured the games record holder in a far more fitting fashion than their insipid efforts against Collingwood two weeks ago when he drew level with Marcus Ashcroft. This was a hard working performance by Brisbane. They cracked-in, their pressure, absent since the Round 8 victory over Essendon was back in force. They played more like Fremantle than the Dockers did. It took Fremantle more than 12 minutes in the first quarter to kick their first goal. In the second it was 13 minutes and in the third 15 minutes. It is unusual to see the Dockers make so many concentration lapses with their defensive set-ups, especially at stoppages, their tackling was nowhere near as fierce as usual and they gave Brisbane more latitude than most opponents receive, especially on Patersons Stadium. The Dockers also paid a tribute of sorts to Black. At 34 years of age, he ran out in front of his hometown crowd and head first into Dockers tagger Ryan Crowley. You could not receive a clearer signal that Ross Lyon and Fremantle rate Black as Brisbane's most dangerous player. "He's a machine, he is still a great player," Crowley said of Black after the game.