Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown has slammed the AFL, describing the fixture handed to his former side in the first half of the season as "a disgrace."
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The Lions are 17th on the ladder, having sunk to a 1-11 start in their campaign.
Pressure is mounting on third-year coach Justin Leppitsch - a triple-premiership teammate of Brown's - who is contracted until the end of 2017.
Leppitsch's emotions boiled over in his post-match press conference following Saturday's 83-point loss to fellow strugglers Fremantle, with the coach firing back at a reporter who asked if he feared for his future.
But Brown said that some of the blame should be laid at the feet of the league, who handed the Lions a challenging fixture despite their second-last place finish in 2015.
Brisbane have played six of the top eight sides already this year, and Brown didn't hold back when describing their draw.
"The Lions were hung out to dry. I don't want to to stick up for my old club too much but the Lions were hung out to dry with being given the second hardest draw in the first half of the competition," Brown told Fox Footy on Monday night.
"That is a disgrace from the people at the AFL who made that draw. They've given the Lions' so-called easy games on the road, with a young list. So fix it up, for Christ's sake because it was an absolute disgrace going into the season like that."
Brown said Leppitsch deserved to be given time to improve his side, while bemoaning the lack of depth at the club.
"The best motivator for any club is selection pressure, and there's no selection pressure up there because they are the youngest lst in the competition. The reserves get belted most weeks."
Brisbane will next host West Coast at the Gabba, and will then face Richmond at the MCG before their bye round.
