THE BRISBANE Lions injury crisis has taken another turn for the worst, with four players in doubt for next week following Sunday's loss against St Kilda.

Darcy Gardiner (calf) was a late withdrawal and will likely miss against Greater Western Sydney next Sunday, as will Jed Adcock (calf), while Claye Beams (knee) and Ryan Harwood (concussion) will be racing the clock.

The Lions' long injury list already includes starting-22 players Pearce Hanley, Daniel Merrett, Jack Redden, Dan McStay, Michael Close, Sam Mayes and Jaden McGrath.

Coach Justin Leppitsch confirmed the mayhem following the 22-point defeat.

"Jed's done a calf and is not walking around well, so you think he'd miss," Leppitsch said.

"Harwood will be OK. Even after half-time he said he was fine, but it was too long from that (incident) and we had to make a call on him (being subbed). I'd expect him to play.

"Claye's a knee, so I'm not sure what the state of play is there, probably unlikely next week.

"Darcy is another calf, so maybe another week or so."

Leppitsch joked that reserves coach Shane Woewodin would have as few as six listed players in his team next week.

He won't be far off the mark.

The ripple effect for the Lions was dramatic against the plucky Saints.

They led by 29 points during the first quarter, but once Harwood and Adcock went down in the second quarter, and Beams was forced to hobble around in the forward line, the visitors pounced.

"I'm proud of the guys in the fact we had to have a bit of a Band-Aid approach after half-time and threw guys in different positions," Leppitsch said.

"We probably lost all three of our half-backs after half-time in Harwood and Adcock, and Claye Beams had to go forward just to hang on.

"At least with a patched up team we were able to compete until the end.

"The good news was they only took 12 marks inside 50, so our young keys didn't get absolutely murdered in the air this week."