Brisbane Lions seek salary cap assistance to help retain star trio Brisbane Lions midfielder Daniel Rich is out of contract at the end of the season. BRISBANE Lions CEO Malcolm Holmes has called for AFL assistance to pay the full salary cap, claiming the gap in player wages between the rich and poor clubs is compromising the competition. Brisbane pays the minimum 95 per cent of the $9.14m salary cap, plus additional services agreement (ASA) payments of $852,000. With star trio Matthew Leuenberger, Pearce Hanley and Daniel Rich out of contract at the end of the year, the Lions are vulnerable to poaching raids from cashed-up rivals. Football manager Dean Warren said talks had commenced with Rich's manager Paul Connors and he was confident a deal would be struck. But he admitted the ability to pay the full cap would be a lifeline for Brisbane. "The two key planks of the AFL's equalisation policy is the draft and the salary cap," he said. Sides that can't afford to pay the whole 100 per cent are really disadvantaged, the extra five per cent it equates to a marquee player. The league is exploring ways to equalise the competition and Holmes said a mechanism to assist clubs to pay the full cap was being discussed. Holmes said it would eliminate a severe on-field disadvantage for Brisbane. "It makes it challenging at times, you want to have a strong and healthy and competitive list," he said. You want any given day for any side to beat the other, for the fans' benefit. They want different sides winning the competition each year. From our perspective, any work that can be done on equalising it (the cap) for all clubs will benefit the competition. The Lions had identified the opening five weeks of 2013 as a key period in establishing their season, and concede they are disappointed to date. They sit 2-3 with a poor percentage after floggings by Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne, and head to Sydney this Sunday for the daunting task fo tackling the premiers at the SCG. The pressure is mounting on Michael Voss, who has had contract talks postponed until the end of the season. But Holmes threw his support behind the embattled coach. "In my view, he is doing a very good job developing a young list," he said. He is acutely aware of the job at hand. He is hard working and you couldn't question his football nous. We will leave it (contract talks) to the end of the year so he can focus on what he needs to do, which is winning football games.