EVERY week is a learning experience for Matthew Leuenberger and this coming weekend the young ruckman will again venture into the unknown.

In the 12th game of his young career, the 19-year-old had one of his best individual games to date in the 17-point loss to the Sydney Swans at the Gabba on Saturday night, accumulating 12 possessions and 21 hitouts.

But come this week and it will be "back to the books" as Leuenberger and ruck partner Jamie Charman prepare to face the Port Adelaide duo of Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan.

"I've never had opportunity to play against them, so it should be an interesting experience," Leuenberger said.

"Certainly having watched them on television over the years, they are two of the best ruckmen going around.

"Charmo and I actually spend a fair amount of time together and bounce ideas off each others.

"Sometime he's a little hard to take seriously, but when he has something to say, it's usually meaningful."

Like his coach Leigh Matthews, Leuenberger was disappointed by the nature of the loss to the Swans.

The Lions had their chances throughout but the Swans kept their beaks in front and extended the home side's winless run against them to eight games.

"We felt for the first time in a long time that we could have a real crack at them – so there's a fair bit of a disappointment," he said.

"We had a few key conversions we didn't make the most of and if we had, I suppose it might have been a totally different story.

"But we didn't do it and that's just the way it panned out."

Leuenberger says the Lions remain confident in their ability to mix it with the competition's elite, amid a testing schedule that will pit them against Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Geelong over the next month.

Throw in the round one and two clashes against West Coast Collingwood and the Lions will have faced six of last year's top eight sides – indeed five of the top six – by the completion of round round seven.

"We're still confident we can give the competition a good crack this year," Leuenberger said.

"It would have been really handy to have got this one (against the Swans). It's an especially tough first five weeks and every win helps immensely.

"From that point of view, it's a bit disappointing to have lost but we're certainly confident in what we feel we're able to do."