Look at his stats from last year he IS elite.
Matthew Leuenberger 2012 End of Season Review
Baby_Jenks
2011 review
Senior games: 3
Goals: 1
Dreamteam: 170
Supercoach: 211
Club Best and Fairest Votes: 3.5
Image (2012 preseason) courtesy of Mr Ripper
The collective train of thought that 2011 was Leuenbergers break out year. The year started with some solid form but then exploded to be arguably the form ruckman in the second half of the year. He averaged 35 hit outs a game in his last 11 games to go with a massive increase of ground covered per game. Along side Hanley, he was one of the shining lights of a disappointing season. Big things were expected from the 204cm, first round pick in season 2012.
The off season saw the departure of Mitch Clark, in less than ideal circumstances and the de-listings of two rookie 'project' ruckman. To go with the mid year retirement of Charman the cupboard looked bare.
Some shrewd recruiting and poker faced drafting by Kerr and co, saw our ruck stocks boosted by the addition of the wily and bearded veteran Hudson and bookended with the raw but talented pick 8 Longer, leaving some to ponder how the balance of the team would be affected.
The pre season gave us some interesting combinations to ponder but then lightning stuck thrice when J.Brown went down with yet another facial injury, this time via friendly fire from Maguire.
Noodles were scratched, chicken entrails were consulted and astrologers argued but the end result was that Leuenberger was selected as full forward, Merrett at CHF and Hudson as opening ruck for the clash with Melbourne in round 1 following a pre-season where he never got into full stride due to an apparently minor achilles strain.
Leuenberger didn't play strength on strength and used his height when needed but mainly he used his head to pull and push the inexperienced Melbourne back line around, creating openings for Merrett, Rockliff and Polkinghorne to kick 8 goals between them, while bagging himself one in the process. While not a dominant individual performance, the chemistry between his midfielders and his fellow make shift forwards was clearly evident. For those of you playing at home, please consult 2:00 in the second quarter. If you peer at it through a beer glass you could swear it was Voss to Bradshaw circa 2002.
Leuenberger lined up at full forward again in round 2 against the then flag favourites Carlton. While this was a better individual performance spending more time in his natural position of main ruckman it was a deplorable team effort. Leuenberger never truly got into full stride but after a limited preseason this wasn't completely unexpected and by the end of the game he certainly wasn't the only Lion running around at half pace.
Round 3 saw the exciting draftee Billy Longer crack the starting side but against the man mountain known as Sandilands, Leuenberger was expected to shoulder most of the ruck duties. That was the plan up until midway through the second quarter when Leuenberger left the field only to return wearing the dreaded red vest. Longer toiled manfully against the bigger, stronger and more experienced opposition but with an already defensive game plan heading into the match the Lions hopes went down with Leuy.
Leuys injury was originally speculated to be a calf that would take two weeks to sort out, but then changed to the same achilles problem that had hampered him through pre-season and the length of time out of the game was upped to 6 weeks. 6 weeks was still 6 weeks a month later and the Lions main ruckman was eventually placed on the Long Term Injury list. It was speculated that this was a strategic move that would see him back after the bye but conflicting reports began surfacing ranging from round 12 through to round 20. With out completing a full training session the pin was pulled on the 9th of august that Leuenberger wouldn't play again this season.
At the very least, he and Staker kept each other company in the rehab group.
A disappointing end to a season that never even got started.
Season 2013 will see the two reigning heavy weights of Cox and Sandilands another year older and another year slower but the path to the title of All Australian ruckman is far from clear. 2012 has seen the emergence of Maric from Richmond, Jacobs from Adelaide and the continued improvement of Mumford that in no small way contributed to the Swans premiership. Leuenberger will be starting from a long way back and outside the Melbourne bubble but as the back end of 2011 has shown, the sky is only the beginning of where he can reach.
My reading is that he's getting back into full running now. Maybe he will miss out on NAB but make it for round 1? I guess we will have to see.
IT is difficult to take baby steps when you are 204cm tall.
But Brisbane ruckman Matthew Leuenberger is doing just that as he travels the long and frustrating road back to the top after an Achilles injury virtually wiped out his 2012 season.
The 24-year-old completed a series of 40-metre sprints and jumping drills at Lions training this week and is planning to play in Brisbane's last two NAB Cup pre-season matches.
The giant WA product played just three games in 2012. He attempted a comeback late in the home-and-away season, but the injury flared again.
Leuenberger's winter of discontent was all the more disappointing given he finished 2011 in career-best form.
