Lions maintain air of mystery

THE start of the NPL Tasmania season is only two days away, but Kingborough Lions coach Mark Broadbent is still keeping his cards close to his chest.

The Lions picked up the wooden spoon last year, but Broadbent expects his side to shock a few teams in the NPL Tasmania this year, with three unknown imports the ace up his sleeve.

Kingborough has signed three imports — Gilly DeSosa (Brazil), Tim Baker (US), and a to-be-named Canadian — but none have seen any minutes in the pre-season competition.

They have been training for about three weeks, and have taken part in intra-club matches, but little else is known about them outside the club.

“All three of them are very competent and they’ll give us some really good backbone to where we’re going,” Broadbent said when pressed on the subject.

The past two seasons have been tumultuous for Kingborough, with Broadbent stepping in twice as caretaker coach in 2016, first when Colin Robbins stepped down, and again when Robbins’s replacement, Ian Shaw, left to join Olympia.

Gabriel Markaj started the season in charge of Kingborough last year, but Broadbent took over once more when Markaj was sacked in May.

Broadbent hopes to provide some stability to the club during the 2018 campaign.

“Kingborough have been a sleeping giant,” he said.

“We need to really focus on making sure competitive on-field performances start to occur and with that starting to [put] some of the silverware on the shelf.

“That is a two-year process, it’s probably why I’ve been incorporated for two years to really steady the boat and give a really good foundation to the club going forward.”

The Lions have signed set-piece specialist Christopher Downes from the Zebras, as well as several other local players to complement their three imports, and Broadbent is optimistic about his team’s prospects.

“We are looking at [finishing] in the top part of the table, and that probably hasn’t been achieved by the club for some time now,” he said.