The Brisbane Lions lost a player and gained a leader when Pearce Hanley was injured in the pre-season.

The Lions knew what they would miss when their metre monster was ruled out for the first three months with a hip injury.

No one was quite prepared for the mentor they found.

Tom Rockliff looked like a captain in waiting from his first day at the club, and has met every expectation since being handed the role over summer.

It has been Hanley’s commitment to his teammates and willingness to be involved on game day that has impressed Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch.

He plays a hands-on role with the midfield and is a vocal presence in the coaches box on game day.

Hanley simply says he had to find a way to contribute.

“I had my fun at the start of my career but I have really knuckled down now,” Hanley told The Sunday Mail.

“I see myself as a leader of this club and just because I was injured and not playing, it didn’t mean I couldn’t contribute.”

Hanley sends a ripple of excitement through the Gabba crowd every time he touches the ball.

He had the same effect on his coaches and teammates this week just by walking out to train — his first full session since pulling up lame with what he thought was a tight hip-flexor, two days before the Christmas break.

He is ahead of schedule on his recovery from hip surgery and is now just a bit of fitness away from a return.

Injury News: BUPA Health Centre

People talk about the intangibles of a player’s worth to a side and the emergence of Hanley as a leader may prove to be an example of that.

But his impact on the Lions can be measured in metres.

He is a legitimate A-grader, Brisbane’s best ball carrier and among the AFL’s elite at gaining metres.

Since 2011, only five players across the competition have gobbled up more turf than the Irish stayer — and they include some of the biggest names in the game such as Gary Ablett and Dane Swan.

Watch a Lions game on TV and the commentators always spend time talking about the massive hole Hanley leaves in the side.

It may be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder but he is widely considered Brisbane’s best player now.

That will bring extra expectation when he returns.

Hanley has heard the talk but he does not seem to believe, or care, what outsiders think.

“I can tell you now it has been a long time out of footy and I won’t be setting the world alight from the start,’’ he said.

The Hanley of old, who loved nothing more than a solid craic, once thought there would be nothing worse than seeing his mates winning games and celebrating them without him.

Then he had to endure five weeks of consecutive losses to start the 2015 season.

“To see them in the first months was tough,” he said.

“We had done the work, we were fit and we knew how we wanted to play but something went wrong. It was hard to watch because I knew how hard they had all worked.’’