Lions have victory in mind
AFL BRISBANE key forward Josh Walker says a change in mindset within his team will see the Lions enter every game in 2018 expecting to win.
It is a far cry from the Lions outfits of the past three years, who won just 12 games from 66 in that time.
Walker played 33 games for Geelong before moving north at the end of the 2015 season, and said the off-season recruitments of Adelaide speedster Charlie Cameron and Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge, combined with the drafting of No.1 pick Cam Rayner, had Chris Fagan’s men buzzing.
“When I first came up, the season before was the real low point and it feels like from then it has just grown and I can feel the difference already with Fagan and (football manager David) Noble coming on board,” Walker said.
“There is a mood of excitement among the group and even though we haven’t been successful and winning every week, which is never ideal, the mood of the place is still really good and it is still a really enjoyable place to come to work.
“We haven’t set an exact ladder position or an amount of games we want to win, but there are certainly no limits.
“It’s not realistic to think you can win every game but we’ll certainly be going into every game expecting that we can win.
“I’m expecting us to improve on last year.”
Walker endured a frustrating 2017 and didn’t play senior football until Round 8, but managed to finish the season strongly after spending some time in defence.
The 25-year-old said, while he expected to spend more time in attack next season, it was nice knowing he had more to offer the team.
“I think my role will be similar to last year. I’ll still play predominantly down forward but, as frustrating as last year was, one thing I learnt to do was to play down back, which I’d never done before,” he said.
“To have that string to my bow means if injuries happen I can play there next year, as well as pinch-hitting in the ruck, which I usually do.”