IN THE aftermath of a horror day, Brisbane Lions coach Justin Leppitsch has decided that laughter is the best medicine, joking that he might have to make a comeback if the team's injury list continues to grow.
 
The Lions' latest two casualties ruckman Matthew Leuenberger (knee meniscus) and defender Pearce Hanley (hamstring) could both face at least a month on the sidelines after falling in Saturday's epic 113-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday.
 
Leuenberger injured his right knee in the second term in an innocuous ruck contest against the Power's Matthew Lobbe.
 
He was then assisted from the field and replaced by sub Tom Cutler.
 
The Lions believe Leuenberger has avoided serious damage to his knees but said he would require scans to be sure.
 
Hanley limped from the field in the third quarter and didn't return, he will also have scans to assess the damage to his hamstring.
 
The pair join a long list of injured players including Daniel Rich (knee), Ash McGrath (calf), Luke McGuane (knee), Brent Staker (calf) and the suspended Daniel Merrett on the sidelines.
 
The best Leppitsch could hope for in Leuenberger's case was that the 25-year-old might avoid surgery, but scans in the coming days would tell.
 
"Whether it's a minor couple of weeks or five or six, hopefully it's not a surgery candidate," Leppitsch said.
 
"And Pearce Hanley's hamstring, whether it's three weeks or whether it's six, that will be determined by scanning.
 
"I have got no one left, I might have to come out of retirement if we keep going like this.
 
"Some of the injuries and suspension we have copped in the last few weeks, there has been about 600, 700 games walk out the door in the last two weeks.
 
"Good times come with bad times. I'm not saying these are bad times but just in this patch of the year we're having to rely on kids too much."
 
Regardless of the club's extraordinary injury list, it had no answer to Port on Saturday and conceded 63 inside 50s to 28.
 
Leppitsch said that as the margin escalated and "self-preservation" entered the players' minds, the team's structure completely fell away.
 
"We probably lost a bit of faith in what we were doing," he said.
 
"There are a lot of parts that we need to coach better and there's parts the players have to take ownership of as well.
 
"What tends to happen when the scoreboard really blows out, a bit of self-preservation comes in, you forget all about your team structures ... there is a bit of that creeping in."