YOUNG LION INSPIRED

Hardworking Rayner champing at the bit

AFL: Cameron Rayner’s Facebook feed has evoked a range of emotions as the Brisbane forward patiently waits for AFL’s return.

First there was the Jonathan Brown montage as the Brisbane great, whose No.16 guernsey now belongs to Rayner, was accepted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Then there was the throwback to last year’s after-thesiren loss to Fremantle – their opponents on Saturday week in the resumed AFL season.

“It was a shocker that one, we haven’t forgot about that,” Rayner said of the one-point loss. “I saw it on Facebook that other day ... remember the feeling, it was terrible.”

Seeing footage of Brown in his prime has already stoked the fire, with 2017 No.1 draft pick Rayner admitting he had “probably taken for granted” the chance to wear the Lions great’s number at the Gabba.

“I see it now and think, ‘Is that a 16 for Browny or me?’” he said with a laugh.

“He’s a superstar of the game. It’s awesome to wear that number and to see that (triple-premiership) team start young together and have success as they grew old.

“It’s something we want to do here and we have the foundations for that building and need to working towards that.”

Rayner had vowed to return in top shape this season after a quieter second campaign followed a super rookie year.

Having done that, the 20year-old said the season’s suspension was initially tough to take “but I took it as an opportunity to keep on improving”.

“I went back to Melbourne and I was able to work hard on things I felt I needed to improve on,” he said.

The Lions will host the Dockers next week, almost three months after their Round 1 loss to Hawthorn.

“Throughout this whole period we were trying to count down the days. Everyone’s getting that perk back up cause footy’s back,” Rayner said.