EVERY match seems like the biggest of Justin Leppitsch's coaching career at the moment.

And after being caught in a media storm surrounding his future during the week, Saturday's home fixture against West Coast looms as another for the Brisbane Lions coach. 

Lions CEO Greg Swann and deputy chairman Leigh Matthews have backed Leppitsch to the hilt, but unless there's a revival in the final 10 rounds of the season, it's going to be difficult to argue he's the best man for the job in 2017, for which he's contracted.

Since Leppitsch took over from former teammate Michael Voss two-and-a-half years ago, he has preached time and patience, and that's fair enough. 

He has overhauled three-quarters of the list and decided to build from the bottom up. 

Key football department personnel have changed under his watch, including the CEO, football manager, head of physical performance and head of welfare. 

Extra coaching staff has been brought in and the entire coaching department restructured. 

However, the Lions only spend $8 million of the footy department salary cap of about $9.5 million, and a reported $1.4 million cash injection from the AFL might not come soon enough to save Leppitsch. 

It sure would help though. Of all the areas the Lions need bolstering, it's development, as the youngest list in the league battles to show any sustained improvement.

Assessing how many Lions have improved in Leppitsch's time is not a pleasant task.

Whether that's his fault, the club's or that of his coaching staff, something has to change, and unfortunately for Leppitsch, the buck has to stop with the head coach. 

They train in dingy off-field facilities at the Gabba. Mitch Robinson recently described the weights room as a dungeon.

The upgraded training and administration facility near Brisbane Airport is getting closer to being finalised but that is still years off completion.

But as Leppitsch himself noted in his weekly press conference on Friday, training facilities and football department salary caps were no excuse for poor on-field performances.

"Don't use those as excuses for not being able to at least do the competitive basics of the game well," he said.

"We can't fall into that as a club and playing group. That's got nothing to do with whether you can compete on a weekly basis."

To save his job, the coach and his players must fix the one glaring area that week after week sticks out to anyone prepared to put up with belting after belting. 

Leppitsch does not get enough from his senior players. It's an indictment on both them and him. 

Dayne Beams and Tom Rockliff can be excused through injury, although even the whole-hearted Rockliff must doubt whether his leadership style is getting the most from his players.

Sadly, warhorse Daniel Merrett looks a step too slow this season, but with Justin Clarke's retirement through concussion, Leppitsch has scarce alternatives. 

For fear of beating a well-worn drum, Daniel Rich continues to underwhelm. 

Pearce Hanley's numbers were nice in last week's embarrassing loss to Fremantle, and have been in many games, but where's the game-breaker that has taken the AFL by storm in recent years? 

The one man putting his hand up every single week is Dayne Zorko.

If the leadership group showed they cared more, you could forgive the youth for their mistakes.

If they showed the energy, the passion, the desire, and did the things expected of senior AFL players every single week, Leppitsch could sell that to his young guys.

But they don't.

Dayne Zorko is one of few Lions to deliver consistently. Picture: AFL Media

Leppitsch said the senior players were not immune to being dropped, but believed they needed to get their individual games back on track before worrying about the rest of the team.

"They cop the most heat, but they're definitely not playing as bad as some others at this point in time," he said.

"The most important thing we did this week was look at ourselves and the few things we could each do to get a little better.

"We're all in it together to make sure we improve each week." 

It's hard to not be impressed by what Brendon Bolton has got from his senior players at Carlton.

Leppitsch needs the same.

There's no suggestion he has lost the playing group; in fact, they seem remarkably upbeat all things considered.

But somewhere from the delivery of his message to its implementation, it isn't getting through.

And whether that's development coaching, senior players not listening or the struggles of imparting a game plan to a young team, Leppitsch has to find the answers or he might not have the time he so desires.

It starts against an Eagles team minus dominant ruckman Nic Naitanui and his sidekick Scott Lycett.

No one expects the Lions to win a string of games to finish the season, but there's a fair expectation of not just effort – that's the minimum a professional footballer should give – but improvement in skills and adherence to a game plan.

Otherwise you have to question whether the club should head in another direction.