The Brisbane Lions are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in recent memory – particularly defensively, where they are leaking like a sieve.
As a result, Justin Leppitsch’s seat is so hot he spends all of his time in the coach’s box standing.
But the fact is, the triple-premiership-winning former key-defender was dealt a dud hand.
It’s been an uphill battle since the moment he took over in September, 2013. Barely a month after being named Brisbane’s head coach, the Lions lost three former first-round picks – Jared Polec (2010 draft, pick 5), Billy Longer (2011, pick 8) and Sam Docherty (2011, pick 12) – as well as a couple of second-rounders in Patrick Karnezis (2010, pick 25) and Elliot Yeo (2011, pick 30).
Regardless of what you think of that group of players, that’s a significant blow to an incoming coach.
To rub salt in the wounds, the player Brisbane selected with their first pick in the 2013 draft (seven overall) was now-Magpie James Aish.
A year later, key veteran Joel Patfull – only a year removed from his second-straight best-and-fairest award – and Jack Crisp – who hasn’t missed a game since joining the Magpies – left the club.
Jack Redden, 2006 No. 4 pick Matthew Leuenberger and former skipper Jed Adcock either walked or were shown the door in 2015.
The two big mature-age recruits to join the club in Leppitsch’s time have been injury-prone star Dayne Beams and former Cat Allen Christensen. Beams has played two games this season and Christensen’s season ended when he broke his collarbone in Round 11.
Despite playing finals just once in the past 11 seasons, Brisbane have only four top-20 picks on the list – Daniel Rich (pick 7, 2008), Sam Mayes (pick 8, 2012), Josh Schache (pick 2, 2015) and Eric Hipwood (pick 14, 2015). That’s a staggering statistic.
Even without their suspended players, the Bombers have nine top-20 picks on the list – granted, one of them is the corpse of Adam Cooney, but still.
The Lions are toothless, and opponents know it.
Brisbane’s current coach has much to answer for. According to the good folks at InsightLane, they are having the seventh-worst defensive season in 120 years.
There has also been frighteningly little improvement in players since Leppitsch took over – though how much of that is on him and how much is on the club and its prehistoric facilities is certainly up for debate.
In 60 games under Leppitsch, the Lions have a 20 per cent win rate and a percentage of 66.2. Both of those numbers are worse than Melbourne’s in the three seasons before Paul Roos took over.
History suggests Leppitsch’s days are numbered sooner rather than later. But win, lose, or draw against the decimated Dons on Sunday, the Brisbane’s problems run much deeper than the man with the clipboard.
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