The Brisbane Lions’ coaching job has bent or broken some famously tough men.

The spotlight created by Leigh Matthews’ astonishing triple-premiership feat was so dazzling it hid the fact that before he arrived and after he left there has essentially been a world of darkness and pain.

Ten men have held the clipboard for Brisbane since the birth of the Bears 29 years ago.

Only Matthews got what he wanted and only two of the 10 – Robert Walls and Peter Knights – went on to coach elsewhere at the top level after they finished in Brisbane.

Take out the Matthews era and the Lions have finished better than 10th only four times in 19 years.

It is a record which pushed proud, strong men like Knights, John Northey and Michael Voss to exhaustion, exasperation and beyond.

The latest man to challenge the curse, Justin Leppitsch, spoke smoothly and defiantly on Thursday, girding his loins for challenges that chewed up the careers of many of his predecessors.

When times are tough, Brisbane is reminded that, for all the glory of their three premierships, they are still a frontier club.

One eternal challenge is that unless the team is firing like a New Year’s Eve skyrocket, a significant number of players would rather be elsewhere.

Outside the Matthews era, when team success became a powerful recruiting magnet, no AFL child born in a southern state ever looked his father in the eye and said “dad, I’ve just got one dream, to play AFL football at the Gabba.’’

Leppitsch: It's Going To Be A Better Place

Asked on Thursday whether he feared a player exodus like two years ago in the wake of Jack Redden wanting out, Leppitsch said “no, because all our players are contracted’’.

He’s right. They are. But contracts only get you their bodies. You need their souls to go anywhere as a team.

Here lies Leppitsch’s biggest challenge, to take Brisbane back to where they were 12 months ago. To make Brisbane a club players want to run towards rather than away from.

Without this, he cannot succeed. With it he has a chance.

If Leppitsch can recreate the vibe which saw Allen Christensen and Dayne Beams fight their way through challenging trade deals to reach Brisbane last year, he should coach beyond the end of his contract next year because he and the club will have a future.

But if, this time next year, he is standing outside the Gabba like he did on Thursday answering questions about a potential player migration, then it is over.

It really is that simple.

Hopefully the Lions will give him as much time as they can to prove himself next season.

Leppitsch’s coolness on Thursday was admirable and he seems like the sort of character you would like to see succeed.

But his composure could not mask all the cracks.

When asked to describe his relationship with Redden there was a five-second silence before he answered quietly “I think ... good’’ before pointing out that he had reviewed text messages sent from Redden over the past year and they had no trace of any resentment.

It was hardly convincing.

New coaches like Leppitsch often land hard because when they stumble there is no bulging resume to break their fall in the way that Paul Roos can always tout his premiership pedigree with Sydney if anyone questions his record at Melbourne.

Leppitsch is up for the challenge. If he succeeds, it could be the biggest achievement of his career.