Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has circled Keidean Coleman's return to play amid recent backline leaks, while knocking back suggestions the club have reached out to sidelined Bulldog Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
The reigning premiers travel to Melbourne for a match up with St Kilda on Saturday as they attempt to correct poor defensive form of late, Fagan told reporters on Thursday, including a 52-point loss to Collingwood at the Gabba last week.
"The last three weeks we have been poor defensively. We're leaking scores," he said.
"Even though our win against the Dogs was a ripper, in terms of the comeback, and the win against Richmond was solid enough, we still conceded too many points compared to where we've been the first three weeks of the year and where we were at for most of the season last year."
As far back as round two Brisbane trailed last year's wooden spooners Richmond up to the final change at home, before completing a five-goal to two final term to run out 19-point winners.
Fagan said team defence across the ground was of "huge focus" at the club off the back of the loss to their 2023 grand final opponents.
"I just feel like that's dropped away. It's the first thing that drops away when either attitude or energy is not right. I've seen a trend, so we've talked about it this week," he said.
He added a string of games conceding 90 points or more was "back to where we were five or six years ago".
Keidean Coleman, a key swingman in their trot to a first grand final appearance in 19 years, is set for a return in the twos as early as next week.
The 25-year-old was amongst the slim list of solemn stories in the club's premiership success last year after being sidelined from round one with an ACL injury.
Coleman emerged into one of the games top distributors off half back in previous seasons, and ran second in the Norm Smith Medal tally in 2023's decider after a 26-touch effort.
"He looks like he could play this week, but I think he'll be available the following week. That's the plan," Fagan said.
"He's about 10-12 days away from playing his first game in a fair while…It's been 14 months, so that's a long recovery. But he's looking good out on the track, which is great to see."
Given the time away, it's likely Coleman's return will be against the Gold Coast through the VFL.
"It's a bit different if you're making your comeback via the preseason, you can have them straight in the side. But I think in this instance he's going to need to play a game or two on the reserves, at least a game anyway," Fagan said.
Saturday's match with the Saints is set to be flag hero Callum Ah Chee's 150th career game.
The 27-year-old played his 100th game at the Lions earlier this year.
A top 10 draft pick out of WA, Ah Chee crossed to Brisbane ahead of the 2020 season after starting his career an hour south at the Suns, playing 45 senior games.
In 2024, Ah Chee launched above previous career numbers appearing in a career-high 26 games at a goal a game.
Substituted after 6 touches and a hamstring setback in the 2023 grand final, Ah Chee booted four majors in their 10-goal win over Sydney 12 months later.
Whether Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is a chance to join him and fellow goalkickers at Brisbane has not been entertained, Fagan moved to clarify.
The coach responded to a query on the Lions' potential interest if the absent Dog was to go up for grabs.
"I think people speculate, to be honest, about those sorts of things….I don't know anyone at our club that's spoken to Jamarra's management," he said.
Asked if he thought a move north to a traditionally non-footy state could benefit the 23-year-old, Fagan responded "I don't know Jamara, so I don't know what his needs are".
"Sometimes, in the past, we've seen players move from one state to another state, and it's been good for him, but I don't really know his story. So again, it's pretty hard to say."
