Leppitsch is under growing pressure to retain his job, and a heavy loss to fellow struggler Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Sunday could spark immediate change.

The Lions remained committed to Leppitsch on Monday, and are of the belief he will coach at least until the end of the season - when a review will be conducted.

He is contracted until the end of 2017, but his tenure is set to be cut short if the heavy losses continue.

The Lions suffered a club-record 12th straight defeat on Sunday, when beaten by Greater Western Sydney, with Leppitsch later bemoaning the concessions given to the expansion franchise.

The suspension-hit Bombers also have a 1-15 win-loss record this season but had been expected to finish at the foot of the ladder due to the suspensions resulting from the supplements saga.

Leppitsch has just a 20 per cent winning record after 60 matches, and has all but conceded the club is in such a bad state it has little hope of luring a quality free agent or uncontracted star.

"That's why we have to be home grown because we don't have the money in the salary cap," he said. "Nor do we have the money as a club, to be perfectly honest.

"Everyone knows about our debt issues. No one counts the debt the two new clubs (Giants and Suns) have put into the competition, but we are certainly reminded of it everyday, which puts a lot of hindrance in what we can do as a football club to go out and recruit and also go out and get new facilities and go and get new help for our players.

"They are some things we have to work on off the field to potentially get a boom recruit. If not, we have to do our bit and bring in young kids and develop them. That's the pathway. It's relatively predictable but, unfortunately, painful for our supporters."

Leppitsch's description of his club is unlikely to help tempt uncontracted Adelaide Crow Josh Jenkins to accept a five-year $3.5 million offer.

Leigh Matthews, who while not chairman is the most powerful voice on the Lions' board, suggested on Saturday that Leppitsch was safe. "He is going to be coach until we say he is not going to be coach and he is contracted for '17," Matthews said on 3AW.

"Our view is, we made a decision last summer to contract him for another two years and we are virtually halfway through that two years."

Lions skipper Tom Rockliff has also been a focus of attention, amid claims he is overweight and a regular on Brisbane's social scene.

Compounding the Lions' misery is that a crowd of 10,195 - a record low - attended Sunday's  game.

Former Carlton senior coach and Brisbane assistant Wayne Brittain said Leppitsch would find himself "in trouble" if beaten by the Bombers.

Brittain said on SEN: "If they (Essendon) put in a similar type of effort to what they did (against GWS) - I know it sounds funny after they've been beaten by 79 points - but if they keep playing in that way, they'll get better results as they go further on and the kids get a bit more footy under their belt."

But he admitted that even legendary coach Norm Smith would struggle to post many more wins with the current list.

"What you need when you're a young coach and you're coaching a side that you know is about five years away from being able to get going and be properly competitive again, you've got to absorb a hell of a lot of pressure," he said. "And I think that's very, very difficult for a first-time coach to be able to do.

"That's the nature of the industry – if you're not winning games, you're getting beaten easily, you're going to get under enormous pressure."