- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Like Adelaide, Brisbane also had an AFL top 100 game player to cheer on.
Ex-Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge joined the lions as an on-field coach who could use his considerable skills to assist his younger teammates by leading by example and coaching according to the circumstances of the game.
Did it work? Most good judges gave the idea the thumbs up and, as a consequence Hodge is likely to play on into 2019. At the start of 2018, Hodge had played 305 games for Hawthorn and was the third most experienced player in the league at the time of his first game for Brisbane.
In 2018, he played a total of 19 games and – with the delisting of Brendon Goddard – he is now the second most experienced current player in the league and the 35th most experienced AFL game player of all time.
With another successful year he could finish in the top 20 AFL game players of all time. He experienced the same fate as Bryce Gibbs at Adelaide with a change in jumper number meaning that his record as the No.1 player in the No.15 jumper (and equal No.6 goal scorer) will most likely never be added to by him.
Even though they won just five games and finished 15th on the ladder, they have managed to show enough during the year to suggest that their star is on the rise, and better things are ahead.
The club is blessed with two outstanding talents – Dayne Zorko and Dayne Beams – and a supporting crew who are gradually gaining experience and bonding as a team.
Dayne Zorko of the Lions celebrates a goal. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Zorko, in particular, has all the makings of a great champion and this year won his fourth club Best and Fairest award. He is already a top ten goal scorer at the club and currently the second most experienced player in a Lions jumper, with only top 20 game player Daniel Rich having played more.
Zorko has not yet turned 30, but with 144 games already he sits in 24th position on the club’s all-time game players list and – with a successful 2019 at the club – he could join Daniel Rich in the top 20 all-time players at the club, passing along the way the Scott brothers, Tom Rockcliffe, Alistair Lynch and Craig McRae.
The club debuted seven new players in 2018 and all of these players scored goals. The stand out was Cameron Rayner who played all 22 games and kicked 20 goals, whilst expected star recruit Charlie Cameron’s debut year was restricted – due to injury – to 11 games in which he scored 17 goals.
Brisbane’s fans expect a fully fit Cameron in 2019 to be another ingredient in a finals mix.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.