But Lions defender Josh Drummond - who made a successful return to the senior team last weekend - believes the Club’s ruck division remains in safe hands.
“Leuey’s injury is a huge blow, but that’s why we picked up Ben Hudson and drafted Billy Longer over the off-season,” Drummond said.
“The ruck is such a demanding position, so to have three ruckmen up and going and in good form makes it a bit easier to replace one should they go down.”
“Leuey will obviously miss a bit of time, but Huddo played really well in the Reserves and has been good for us in the games he’s played so far this year.”
“Billy obviously had his initiation against Fremantle last week and I thought he handled himself really well considering he was going up against one of the best in the business in Sandilands.”
“So I think we have adequate guys to cover for Leuey.”
Drummond believes Leuenberger’s injury could present an opportunity for 18 year-old Longer to play more senior football than he probably first expected in his debut season.
“It shows the confidence that our coaching group have in Billy,” Drummond said.
“He was a high draft pick, but the way he’s gone about it and the improvements he has made since coming to the Club has really given him confidence to play.”
“The test for him - and all young players for that matter - is now being able to produce that week-in and week-out. Last Saturday was an encouraging start and he’ll probably get another crack at it this weekend.”
Since opening their season with a 41-point win over Melbourne at the MCG, the Lions find themselves 14th on the ladder after successive losses to Carlton and Fremantle.
The most recent defeat saw the Lions manage just 10 scoring shots from 20 forward 50 entries - but Drummond said there was no need for panic so early in the season.
“The biggest thing that came out of the Fremantle game is that we shouldn’t be too concerned about making skill errors, as long as we’re out there having a crack and being more attacking,” he said.
“We fell into the trap of being a little bit too defensive against the Dockers.”
“Skill errors happen, we’re all human, but we can’t play with that type of negative mindset.”
“One positive from the game was that we were able to hang in there and really grind it out for most of the match.”
“So we go into this Saturday’s QClash with full confidence and will hopefully we can get back into the winners’ circle.”
