THE YOUNG Brisbane Lions players who were put to the sword by a relentless Hawthorn on Thursday night have already emerged better for the experience, says Justin Leppitsch.
But, the new coach will leave Etihad Stadium following the NAB Challenge landslide aware of the damage that regular 131-point thrashings can do to inexperienced youngsters.
The Lions, with just two players – Matt Maguire and Andrew Raines – with more than 100 games to their name, and the pre-match omission of Tom Rockliff meaning just James Polkinghorne and Trent West had played 50, were completely outgunned.
The Hawks had 13 recent premiership players in their line-up and didn't let up until a handful of them were taken off in the dying stages.
Leppitsch was the first to admit the result "wasn't ideal" but said the likes of James Aish, Nick Robertson and Jordon Bourke had impressed despite the one-sided nature of the contest.
"It was a great lesson tonight for our young boys. I think they're better off now than they were three hours ago as footballers and that's a really good thing for them," Leppitsch said.
"We sat all the boys down at the end and went through with them and asked them, 'What did you learn?', and they all had some experience to reflect back on.
"One thing we'll be careful with the kids is not to overexpose them and put them in situations you saw tonight.
"You don't want too many players demoralised on a weekly basis.
"Tonight wasn't ideal so I won't be just randomly playing kids if they're not showing they're up to the standard.
"But, we saw glimpses of some of them that they might be able to handle the standard."
Leppitsch defended the Lions' decision to leave out a range of first-class players, including key midfielders Daniel Rich, Brent Moloney, Pearce Hanley, Jack Redden and Rockliff, ruckman Matthew Leuenberger and defenders Jed Adcock, Joel Patfull and Daniel Merrett.
He said the Lions' experience of winning last year's NAB Cup pre-season competition and losing their first two home-and-away games – to the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide – had influenced their plans for this year's summer games.
With a trip to Townsville next weekend to play Gold Coast on Sunday, Leppitsch said they had decided to keep their senior players from flying all over the country with an aim to get two full games in them before round one.
"I think we can look back 12 months and realise you can win a NAB Cup series and lose the first game by a lot of points if you're not physically fit for that first game," he said.
"Everything we do in our preparation is for round one and every team goes about it their own way this time of year.
"We've decided to take a longer term view than a short-term view.
"There's going to be people disappointed right this second but I can tell you, in six weeks' time, you won't even know it happened."
Former captain Jonathan Brown remains a few weeks away from returning from his foot injury and is the only one expected to be unavailable for next Sunday's clash with the Suns.
The Lions will also play a practice match against the Sydney Swans on March 8 in Burpengary.
Aish received treatment for a knock to his knee on Thursday night while acting captain Dayne Zorko hurt his leg when Jarryd Roughead fell on him but Leppitsch said neither would be affected long-term.
