Despite having entered 2016 as one of only four out-of-contract coaches in the AFL, Justin Leppitsch says he is unperturbed about his at the helm of the Brisbane Lions.
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Triple-premiership hero Leppitsch is in the final year of an initial three-year deal as Lions coach, with only Nathan Buckley (Collingwood), Alastair Clarkson (Hawthorn) and Damien Hardwick (Richmond) also awaiting new deals to extend their respective tenures beyond the upcoming season.
Paul Roos is also in the last season of his set three-year stint at Melbourne, before handing over the reins to Simon Goodwin.
The Lions have struggled in Leppitsch's first two seasons, winning seven games in 2014, and just four during a disastrous 2015 in which several key players were injured.
James Aish, a top-10 selection in 2013 also left the club to join Collingwood after just two seasons, while Matthew Leuenberger (Essendon), Jed Adcock (Western Bulldogs) and Jack Redden (West Coast) all departed the Gabba. Stefan Martin and Sam Mayes had also been linked with moves away from the club, although Martin has since re-signed until the end of 2019.
Then there was the heated mid-season changeroom incident involving Leppitsch and subsequently delisted rookie Zac O'Brien stemming from O'Brien's show of dissent towards NEAFL Shane Woewodin.
Lions chief executive Greg Swann suggested last month that Leppitsch could be re-signed prior to the season, pointing to a need for "stability" at the club.
With his nerves perhaps eased by Swann's sentiments, Leppitsch said he expected to keep his role for the next decade.
"My personal situation [contract] is something I'm not that worried about to be perfectly honest," Leppitsch said in an interview on the AFL website.
"I see this as a 10-year job, so whatever happens with the [fine print] right now will happen. For me it's about building the club back to a superpower."
He added that the Lions' directors had been supportive, as they seek to haul the club back to a position of strength after just one finals appearance since the four consecutive grand finals of 2001 to 2004.
"There's a fair bit of communication with the club and board on our direction and why, and they're really cool with that," he said.
"Our planning is based off years of history of clubs building teams to success and we're going to attempt to do the same thing and that's all you can do.
"Along the way we're going to get our challenges. Ultimately, to get to where we want to get to, we have to ride the course of what we're doing. We think that comes when we play young players in their first 50 games, you get inconsistencies, I know that.
"I can get frustrated by it, I can lose faith by it, or I can just know it's part of the growth cycle, which it is."
The former Richmond assistant conceded though that his first two years had been trying personally.
"It's not enjoyable going through this. You have your good times and bad and you know you have to have them sometimes to get to where you want to get to.
"No one likes living it, that's the hardest part. We had to live it a little bit last year and that's never easy. The strong survive and when you get through it, you don't look back."
