The Brisbane Lions have only three wins from eleven games this season, have the second lowest percentage in the competition, an injury list that totals 728 games of experience and well publicised off-field and financial trouble.
Having made the finals just once since their grand final loss to Port Adelaide in 2004, it’s been a tumultuous period for the Lions. But the past few weeks have provided a ray of hope for long-suffering Lions fans.
The past decade is punctuated by poor on-field performance, questionable recruiting and development – think Brendon Fevola and the ‘Go Home Five’ – political manoeuvring in the boardroom, and the employment and then shock axing of favourite son Michael Voss as coach.
Now there is some internal stability, with property developer Bob Sharpless as Chairman, triple Brisbane Premiership coach Leigh Matthews on the board, and champion defender Justin Leppitsch as coach.
Most importantly for the fans, there is evidence to suggest Brisbane’s on-field fortunes are turning.
The large injury list has afforded less experienced players an opportunity to show what they can do, and it’s given them valuable experience while increasing depth.
Daniel Rich, Matthew Leuenberger, Ash McGrath, Luke McGuane, Trent West and Brent Staker have all been first-choice players in recent seasons. None of them are playing at the moment, and giving their replacements an opportunity to play at the highest level will only spur them on to play well enough to maintain their spot.
It’s these less experienced players who have provided Brisbane fans with some hope. James Aish, Lewis Taylor and Darcy Gardiner have all had significant game time so far this season, and have shown huge amounts of promise.
Aish is already a Rising Star Nominee at 18 years old, and it wouldn’t be absurd to think that he could win it. He’s also a dual premiership player with South Australian club Norwood, and has shown levels of composure and class not often seen in first-year rookies.
Diminutive Lewis Taylor is another who, like Aish, has played all 11 games. Well known for seemingly having his socks glued to his shins, he has shown good awareness in traffic and impressive pace.
Darcy Gardiner, once rated the best key position defender in last year’s draft, has come along quicker than many other tall defenders and has shown impressive signs in his first seven games.
The challenge for the Lions will be keeping the promising youngsters that they have invested in. On top of the aforementioned, Claye Beams, Rohan Bewick, Marco Paparone and Sam Mayes are all recent draftees who have played this year.
Rich will no doubt be looked at by opposition clubs as a potential free agent, as will Leuenberger, Hanley, Rockliff and Redden.
The worst possible result for the Lions would be a repeat of last year, when Elliot Yeo (West Coast), Jared Polec (Port Adelaide), Billy Longer (St Kilda), Sam Docherty (Carlton) and Patrick Karnezis (Collingwood) all sought trades, which were ultimately negotiated, back to their home states.
It was a massive loss of talent, and it will be painful for Lions fans to see these players being successful. All of them bar Karnezis have played for their new clubs this year, with Yeo and Polec being particularly impressive.
If they do manage to keep them and the off-field situation improves, these players will only get better, and the Lions will have a strong, talented core group around which they can build a successful team.
Hopefully the last two weeks have been an insight into the future of the football club, rather than an anomaly.
Cody
Guest
Does brisbane need to buy a big name star or is winning games going to be enough?
TomC
Roar Guru
Keenan, you just said you can only go off what you read in those articles! So which is it? If you didn't think it played a major part I don't understand why you'd mention it in the first instance.
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
Tom, I can understand that you disagree. I'm just saying that it played a part, not a major one. However, saying that I read articles from only one journalist in a manner that was not critical, that's untrue. As you said, basing views on speculation and guesswork is never a good idea. Thanks for voicing your opinion, I appreciate it.
TomC
Roar Guru
Keenan, you can never say that you can only go off what you read from articles by one journalist. You have to read these things critically. You have to. You simply can't take what's printed in the paper as fact. Journalists have agendas and biases. Anyway, I don't agree that recruitment and development were major factors for the go-home five. I think if you're basing your views on speculation and guesswork, it's probably not a good idea to put them in an article like this one.
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
Well we'll never know how good those five could have been for Brisbane, but Polec, Longer and Karnezis weren't playing much last year. Polec played one game from memory. Perhaps their reasoning was that they had been overtaken by others at the club, or maybe they were unhappy with their role at the club and thought that they could potentially develop more elsewhere. That's just my thoughts, and it's all speculation. Forgive me, I'm not well versed in the Courier-Mail or the intricacies of the Springfield development, I can only go off what I read from those articles.
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
True, but then it's also based on their salaries as to whether they're restricted or unrestricted.
TomC
Roar Guru
Not sure about that, Keenan. What role do you think recruiting and development had for the go home five? Most of them seem to be good recruits who have developed appropriately, although you could argue about Karnezis and Longer. I think you are misreading the Sharpless situation in a number of ways. You're taking some of the Courier-Mail articles at face value, which you shouldn't do. Andrew Hamilton has a long history of blending fact with opinion in a way that distorts things. Sharpless hasn't ignored what the AFL have suggested regarding CEO candidates. He was put in when the AFL were gung-ho about Springfield, but the realities of that development have changed, so now he finds himself a lame duck. I doubt the AFL see much point in keeping him in that role any more.
Cat
Roar Guru
depends which contract it is. If the player has not served 8 years at the clob then no they are not.
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
Yes.
TomC
Roar Guru
Aren't most players potential free agents at the end of their contracts?
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
Well the AFL seem to want him there, he's not well liked by Brisbane fans though. However, now that he's ignored what the AFL have suggested their position may change. I should add that I know there are a number of factors influencing players when they "go home", and I don't mean to have "blithely ascribed" it to recruiting and development. It's not due solely to this but it would be hard to say that it plays no part.
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
Thanks. That's my mistake in that article, but take a look at my response to SportsFanGC at the bottom.
Keenan Ross
Roar Rookie
Thanks, I had actually done some research. Let me add however that the article should read "...potential free agent at the end of his contract...". That's an error on my part. At the end of their contracts Rich will 26, Redden 25, Rockliff 27, Leuenberger 28, Zorko 28, Mayes 22. Darcy Gardiner, Lewis Taylor and James Aish all finish their contracts at the end of next year when they will be 20. So, once all of these have expired, you would think Rich, Redden, Rocky, Mayes, and the three draftees from last year if they keep their current form up, to all be looked at by oppositon clubs in some detail. I for one hope they all stay.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Best to do some research about players contracts if you are going to present them as free agent targets. Here is some info to get you started: Daniel Rich contracted to 2016 Jack Redden to 2016 Tom Rockliff to 2017 Pearce Hanley to 2018 Matthew Leuenberger and Dayne Zorko both signed on again last year for 2 and 3 year extensions respectively In addition to this Sam Mayes, Josh Green and Michael Close have also all signed on again this year. Considering that the best talent is locked away I don’t see many clubs targeting the Lions at all to be honest.
TomC
Roar Guru
I think the cost of living is a furphy, fiver. No one ever leaves Melbourne or Perth for Adelaide or Brisbane citing cost of living expenses. Personally, I don't regard Brisbane as more desirable than Perth or Adelaide. The go-home factor is complicated and it affects different players to a different degree, but all things being equal most young men would rather live in their home city near their family and friends. So while we allow players at the end of their first contract to refuse to re-sign, and demand they be traded to the club of their choice, then clubs with lots of players from interstate will be disadvantaged. I wrote an article earlier in the year running through some of the options available to offset this effect, but despite the go-home five there doesn't appear to be any political will to fix the problem. But first things first: get some stability into the club and then worry about lobbying for change to the rules.
Duncan
Guest
As a Lions supporter its starting to look better but I'm predicting another exodus out of the club once the season ends. I thnk they will find it very hard to keep hold of Rich, Rockcliff and Redden. Jonathan Brown and Ash mcgrath will almost certainly retire as well and the foward line without Brown looks very shakey
fiver
Guest
I don't get why the Lions need to pay a premium to attract players. Brisbane is less expensive than Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. I would also view it as a more desirable place to live than Perth or Adelaide. It is that quality AFL players need to be in the spotlight all the time and they dont get that in QLD with League being the dominant code?
TomC
Roar Guru
Sharpless is not a stable chairman. He was put in as a stopgap to get the Springfield development over the line. Now that is on the verge of failing, and Sharpless will be gone from that role at the end of the season. The club has no CEO, no football operations manager, no senior assistant coach now Schwab has moved into a development role, and a shoestring footy staff largely made up of those who couldn't get a job elsewhere. Getting some competent people into senior leadership positions needs to be the first step for the Lions, particularly at the CEO level where Michael Bowers and Malcolm Holmes have steered the club through repeated bungles over the course of the past eleven years. And once that's done, hopefully we can address some of the institutional problems associated with being the only club in a developing football state without salary cap concessions. Problems including the go-home five, which are blithely ascribed to poor recruitment and development in this and many other articles. Brisbane have to pay a premium to attract and retain quality players, as more than anyone but the other northern-state teams they rely heavily on interstate players. They have no way at all to offset this, and until they do they will repeatedly lose talented young players like the go-home five and many before them, and be at a disadvantage trying to recruit mature players like Crameri, Delaney, Tippett and Dawes in recent years. Right now the club is just treading water, trying to minimise the damage until some solutions are found.
Ash
Guest
Fairly sure Hanley, Rich and Redden are not free agents as they all signed contracts last year or this year. But the article is still good.