How do you fill the void left by the absence of not only your captain, but your side's most courageous and capable player? It's a question Brisbane coach Michael Voss will undoubtedly wrestle with over the coming weeks.
Lions skipper Jonathan Brown will spend the next month on the sidelines as he attempts regain full fitness after eventually succumbing to an abdominal strain he initially sustained in Round 4.
Brisbane's form has been woeful ever since Brown picked up the injury, which was at first thought to be a mere minor niggle.
The Lions have lost seven of their last eight games, the last of which came on Sunday against the Western Bulldogs, when goals proved tricky to come by without Brown.
The visitors managed just eight majors without their main powerhouse, and it was full-forward Brendan Fevola who attracted the extra attention and arguably felt the pinch the most.
Voss suggested raw youngster Aaron Cornelius would come into selection contention this week, but admitted it would be exceptionally difficult trying to replace Brown's input.
"He (Cornelius) would come in fresh because the reserves didn't play, and he's been in pretty good form also," Voss said.
"It's that balance of looking at your resources and finding out where you need them, there's no doubt that at different times we've had to drag other players to be able to do other roles."
"So we've got to look at that on balance and see what sort of consequences there would be, say for taking Mitch Clark out of the ruck and pushing him forward."
"The tendency is you want to plug holes, but that can take away a strength from somewhere else."
"We've got to weigh up all those factors as the week goes on."
Brown prides himself on his durability and has played while injured in the past, but Voss said the club's most valuable asset understood the need to rest for the next four weeks.
"In one way it was tough, in another way I think he knew," he said.
"He knows his body better than anybody, he desperately wanted to be able to play (against the Bulldogs), he knew it was an important game for us and he wanted to lead the team through that."
"But he also had to realise that he had stopped making some progression, and when you get to that point….eventually you're going to fall over a little bit."
Voss is confident Brown will make a 'full recovery' but in the meantime Fevola, who is also nursing an abdominal injury, will have to deal with the prospect of being double-teamed.
As such, expect the Lions to be a little more creative in their forward movements, with small forwards Amon Buchanan and Todd Banfield set to come to the fore.
The second-year coach was critical of his charges for being too Fevola-focused on Sunday, saying they must look for other avenues to goal in the following weeks.
"For us it's about being able to know that we can use other options going forward, and a few popped up during the week."
"But we need more, and we've got to use them, they're there - it's just that at the moment we're just not seeing them."
"Whether that's the pressure, or the fact we're being seduced by Fev himself, I'm not 100 percent sure but we've got the options in-between."
"We're just bypassing them, and so we are making it particularly easy for the opposition's defence to bottle up our back half."
"If we could just lower our eyes a little bit and see those options, then we'll start to see some goals eventuate."
Fevola will celebrate his 200th AFL match on Saturday night at the Gabba but the former Carlton spearhead is in serious danger of being upstaged by Richmond's in-form young gun Jack Riewoldt.
Riewoldt has been in top form over the past few weeks, culminating in a ten-goal haul against West Coast at the MCG on Sunday.
While Fevola struggled to exert his influence over at Etihad Stadium, on the other side of town Riewoldt snaffled pole position in the race for the Coleman medal.
Voss confirmed vice-captain Daniel Merrett would get the job on Riewoldt, but said the Lions would focus more on winning the battle in the middle and drying up the Tigers' forward-50 entries.
"About a month out we tend to start looking at opponents a bit closer, and in that month it has probably been the best month of his (Riewold's) career."
"The last three weeks he has kicked 20-odd goals and he really accelerated with 10 on the weekend, so he's very important to them."
"No less important than the supply he is getting though, their midfield seems to be really working well together."
"They're certainly winning the ball well and that's been their genuine strength."