THE BRISBANE Lions appear out of the race to secure Charlie Dixon, with Justin Leppitsch saying the Lions would develop their key forwards from within.
Dixon, the powerhouse Gold Coast full-forward, is out of contract at season's end and has attracted interest from a number of clubs, including the Lions, Port Adelaide and Fremantle.
But the Lions now seem resigned to missing out on his signature.
"Everyone knows we need a big, mature key position forward, but clubs don't throw those away, they're hard to find," Lions coach Leppitsch said on Wednesday.
"A big part of our game and why it's falling apart is our aerial work in the 50s, forward 50 and defensive 50.
"You can play as well as you like through the midfield, but if you keep losing the ball close to goal at either end, that's where the easy scores occur."
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When asked whether the club was resigned to missing out on mature forwards during the trade period and resorting to developing their own crop, Leppitsch was blunt.
"It seems to be the case," he said.
"We've got some good young keys. We have to develop our own.
"We know with young keys it doesn't happen overnight. We have some issues there we know can't be fixed overnight, but we're hell-bent on making it better and making it better as quick as we can."
Leppitsch also denied the club was close to a player exodus and again backed the leadership style of skipper Tom Rockliff, who has been criticised in the past week for his aggressive nature.
Leppitsch said Rockliff demanded high standards – as triple premiership captain Michael Voss did – and would learn to temper his approach with more experience.
Despite reports, Leppitsch said the playing group was happy.
"Reddo's (Jack Redden) got no intention to leave, (Dayne) Zorko's got no intention to leave, Stef's (Stefan Martin) got no intention to leave," he said.
"It's hard to constantly refute things.
"All we can do is wait for the trade period and let's all just shut up and wait and see what happens. If you're right, you're right, if you're not, you're not."
