OF ALL the troubles for the Brisbane Lions this season, the one statistic really killing them is poor disposal efficiency.

Turnovers repeatedly lead to opposition scores, and poor goalkicking not only deflates the Lions but seemingly fuels their opponents.

It's no surprise they're ranked last in the league for effective disposals at just over 70 per cent.

But there's one man bucking the trend– and it's not someone who immediately springs to mind.

While captain Tom Rockliff is arguably the most creative and best ball user, it's unheralded half-back Ryan Harwood who consistently leads the way by the numbers.

Harwood's 78.5 per cent efficiency is second to Daniel Merrett (79 per cent), but with almost twice as many possessions, the difference is insignificant.

And it's been happening for a while.

Harwood played just three games in an injury-interrupted 2015 but was the most efficient Lion, while in 2014 he played 14 games and again topped the team with his 82 per cent mark.

The Lions rate the 24-year-old Tasmanian as one of the best kicks in the team and shuffled him from midfield to the half-back line to help springboard their attack.

The next stage for Harwood's development is to be more aggressive with his kicks.

Like many defenders he kicks backwards and sideways on occasions to switch the play, and that may help his stats.

However, Lions assistant Murray Davis, who is the club's transition strategy coach, says Harwood has the tools to become an even more complete rebound defender.

"Ryan is a very good user of the ball," Davis said.

"It's now just about maximising not only his efficiency but getting us going forward.

"We want to encourage him to be bold with his choice of kicks. He's good enough."

Perhaps the reason that gives Davis most optimism is Harwood's continuity.

Now in his sixth season at the club, he has played all 11 games this year.

Incredibly, in his first five years, Harwood played a grand total of 11 games in the first half of seasons as his body, and sometimes form, let him down.

Now with 70 games to his name, he sits behind only Merrett in terms of experience in the Lions' defensive 50.

"He's second for intercept possessions at our club, so he reads the play well," Davis said.

"He's building his game on defence and now we want to see him using it going forward with the ball."

With fellow half-backs Sam Mayes (77.9 per cent) and Tom Cutler (73 per cent) also in the top-tier of the club's ball users, perhaps the Lions aren't as far away from producing a competent rebounding defence as it may have seemed.