THE INJURY-PLAGUED Brisbane Lions backline has been hit again, with small defender Ash McGrath ruled out for at least a month with a hamstring tear, and former Saint Matt Maguire set to miss up to a month with tendinitis in his left foot.

McGrath suffered a grade two tear in his right hamstring in the side's one-point loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

Maguire, who has a history of injury problems after suffering a severely broken leg in 2006, was delisted by the Saints at the end of 2009 after playing all season in the VFL.

The Lions picked him up with pick 91 in the NAB AFL Draft.

Scans also confirmed that 2009 draftee Callum Bartlett has ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the Lions Reserves match on the weekend.

The 18-year-old will undergo his second full knee reconstruction in as many years, after he ruptured his left ACL in April last year.

Bartlett is considered a candidate for LARS (synthetic ligament) surgery, but is still expected to miss the remainder of the 2010 AFL season even if he undergoes the new procedure.

Possible good news for the Lions is that key defender Daniel Merrett is listed as 'test', but the side is still missing some key players, with Josh Drummond (knee - indefinite), Jamie Charman (ankle - indefinite), Jed Adcock (foot - indefinite), Xavier Clarke (knee - 4 weeks) and James Polkinghorne (thigh - 1-2 weeks) also on the list.