BRISBANE Lions coach Justin Leppitsch has no qualms whatsoever with captain Tom Rockliff's style of leadership, which was questioned during the week.
Rockliff took to Twitter to rubbish the report of a rift that had supposedly grown between he and Dayne Zorko.
Rumours of tension within the playing group have started to bubble to the surface as the club battles to avoid the wooden spoon.
Leppitsch said it was unrealistic to imagine a group of 47 men co-existing in perfect harmony, but that Rockliff's confronting style of captaincy was preferred.
"There's always personality clashes within teams, even back when we were winning premierships there were personality clashes...but I think [the report] was overstated," Leppitsch said.
"He's an in-your-face leader demanding more. Is that bad? Actually someone said 'Oh a bit like 'Hodgey's' in your face' and then they asked me is that a good thing or a bad thing?
"No, I don't really want a wallflower as a captain. I'm pretty happy to have a guy that wants to drive standards."
While he insisted reports of unrest were over the top, the coach admitted the tension of the Lions' season was beginning to get to him.
The club has been ravaged by injury, forcing Leppitsch to play an incredibly inexperienced side.
Of the 22 players that lost to Adelaide on Saturday night by 87 points, 11 were under than 23 years of age.
The only positive to draw out of the Lions' continued failure this season is the experience those players have garnered.
"The size of their players compared to ours, you can just see it, it's stark…we're some years in the gym away," he said.
"It tests your patience but we're also realistic; of course it tests your patience; we're playing a very young team, we don't have a lot to come in – I think we've got five or six players playing in our reserves.
"It is frustrating but what it's doing is giving our young players fantastic exposure."
