One of the real positives from the Brisbane Lions’ narrow loss to Adelaide last Saturday afternoon was the promising return of ruckman Matthew Leuenberger.

Leuenberger lined-up his first senior AFL match in 12 months against the Crows, and finished with a game-high 32 hitouts to go along with 11 disposals and three tackles.  

His work both around the ground and at stoppages was impressive, and will only improve as he regains match fitness.

“It was good to see Leuey back, he’s missed a lot of footy,” Lions Assistant Coach Adrian Fletcher told LIONS TV as part of the regular Vero Coaches’ Wrap.

“Obviously he’s an important component to the make-up of our midfield.”

“We had 52 hitouts compared to Adelaide’s 25, so he gives our midfield first use of the ball with his height.”

“He also becomes another midfielder around the ground once he gets that fitness.”

Fletcher also identified the lack of accuracy in front of goals, particularly in the third quarter last Saturday.

“The good thing is we got 55 inside 50s…now we need to kick goals,” Fletcher said.

“In the third quarter we kicked 4.8, and obviously we want to turn that into 8.4. We probably could have put Adelaide under more pressure than we did.”

The Lions’ have now kicked a total of 17.34 across their first two matches – an accuracy percentage of just 33%.

Fletcher believes a win is just around the corner, so long as the Lions can kick straight and maintain their intensity for an entire match.

“We had good pressure for three quarters (against Adelaide),” he said.

“If we turn up and play with that intensity against Gold Coast down at Metricon (this Saturday night), we’ll give ourselves a big chance of taking the chocolates at the end of the day.”