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Whether it is due to home sickness, discontent, a perceived lack of opportunity or just a plain old dummy spit, new Brisbane coach Justin Leppitsch is better off without the likes of Jared Polec, Patrick Karnezis, Billy Longer, Sam Docherty and Elliot Yeo who have all expressed interest in finding new homes for the coming AFL season.
While this potential mass-exodus of players may seem damaging on the outside, it is perhaps the best possible thing that could happen if the club is to move forward in the aftermath of previous coach Michael Voss being sacked.
The last thing Leppitsch needs as he enters a new season are Voss sympathises undermining his every move or players who are less than 100 percent committed to the new regime.
Yes, the players mentioned make up a fair proportion of Brisbane’s recent top end recruiting (five of their higher picks from the last three years), and losing them will be a set back for the club, but honestly, if Leppitsch is to pull his team from its least successful era since its merger with Fitzroy in 1997 his players must be committed to the cause.
Discontent within a football club can spread like a cancer. If the players concerned can not fully back their new coach, whether they agreed with the sacking of Voss or not, then they are better off gone.
Just ask Nathan Buckley!
Leigh Matthews faced a similar scenario at the end of his first year of coaching Collingwood way back in 1986. Club captain Mark Williams was renegotiating his contract and playing hard ball.
The two-time Copeland trophy winner had also topped the club’s goal kicking and been an all Australian during his career with the Magpies, so he was no mug on the field.
Despite this Matthews took the hard line. If Williams was going to hold the club to ransom over contract details, then he could go elsewhere. Only those with full commitment, ready and willing to sacrifice all for the club, were welcome.
It was the beginning of an era that saw players like Tony Shaw, Gavin Brown, Darren Millane and Micky McGuane squeeze every last ounce of talent from their bodies in order to take their club to the top.
Their rein as black and white custodians culminated in the 1990 premiership.
Leppitsch could do no worse than adopt the Collingwood approach. It may prove painful in the short term, but the galvanising effect it would have on his young Lions outfit could be immeasurable later on.
While supporters and club backers want instant success, it is very rarely attainable. Leppitsch must be given time to develop his team. This is a hard fact to swallow, especially as the Voss era yielded so few results.
As promising as this season looked for Brisbane, Voss’ tenure at the club produced results that were mediocre at best.
From semi-finalist in 2009, the Lions slumped to 13th in 2010. This was followed by 15th, 13th and 12th this year.
These luck lustre performances also coincided with significant drops in both attendance figures and membership numbers which would have had alarm bells ringing in the Lions’ boardroom.
While crowds, and in particular membership, began to rise again this year, the death knell would have already been sounding for Voss.
Talk of Voss returning to the club in some capacity must also remain just that – talk. No new coach can be confident in his position if the eyes of the one he replaced are boring holes in the back of his head.
It is Leppitsch’s turn at the helm and he needs to be given the space and chance to develop his own ideas and shape the team as he sees fit.
To succeed he needs to be as uncompromising as he was as a player and he needs the full backing of his players. Those who are in two minds about playing under him or remaining in Brisbane should leave now and let him get on with the job of building a new team of mentally strong and committed players who will lead the way to the next great Lion era.
And as popular as Michael Voss was, especially among the supporters, it is time to move on and accept the fact that your board may have got this one right.
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