James Aish’s short career at the Brisbane Lions might already be over after the young star was ruled out for the rest of the 2015 season today due to a finger injury.
Aish is set for 12 weeks recovery after having surgery on Monday to repair a tendon in his finger that he ruptured in Saturday night’s loss to North Melbourne.
The injury may well close the book on Aish’s time as a Brisbane Lion with the youngster widely tipped to request a trade home to South Australia at the end of the year.
There has also been rumour of some Victorian clubs being keen to lure the young midfielder who finished fourth in last year’s Rising Star Award.
The name Aish is football royalty in South Australia. James is the son of Norwood champion Andrew Aish, grandson of Peter Aish, and the nephew of Magarey Medallist (SANFL equivalent of the Brownlow Medal) Michael Aish, who played in 307 games and two premierships for the club.
James himself debuted for Norwood’s senior team when he was just sixteen, the youngest player to debut for the club in 134 years. He played in two SANFL premierships for Norwood before being drafted in 2013.
Originally tipped to be a top five pick in the draft, Aish slid a little and the Brisbane Lions were ecstatic to snag him with their pick seven. He had an excellent 2014 debut season but now things are beginning to go pear-shaped.
The subject of go-home rumours from his first day at the club, Aish has repeatedly put off contract talks with the Lions this season and it’s now widely believed that he will jump ship at the end of the year.
His form has been average this year and he has been dropped from the team twice. He’s also missed three games due to jaw injury, and will now miss the rest of the season.
Lions skipper Tom Rockliff said earlier in the year that if Aish didn’t sign by Round 16 (last week), he’d “probably think he’ll (Aish) leave”.
The Lions famously lost five young players at the end of the 2013 season – Elliot Yeo (West Coast), Jared Polec (Port Adelaide), Sam Docherty (Carlton), Billy Longer (St Kilda) and Patrick Karnezis (Collingwood). With the exception of Karnezis all have gone on to be regulars at their new clubs.
Senior Lions Rockliff and Pearce Hanley both expressed their opinions on Twitter after those trades were completed, with Hanley calling the traded players “mummies boys”. By the looks of it, they might want to get their twitter fingers warmed up for the coming trade period in October.
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