FOSTERING TOP TALENT

There are a few talented Cairns girls that might be a chance to be drafted to the AFLW before the Gold Coast Suns enter in the 2020 season. Is there a chance the Lions can pinch them before the Suns grab them through their zone?

program is good enough, we will back ourselves to hold on to any girls. Hopefully we can continue to develop Queenslanders and make it as strong a footy state as possible. We have seen a number of talented girls come out of that competition in Cairns. It is important the Cairns competition stays strong as they can stay at home and play senior footy instead of relocating south like they do in the boys’. Hopefully we can get a few indigenous girls out of Cairns drafted too – there are so many talented girls up there that would thrive at the elite level.

AWe have talked about it this year and we thought we would still try and build our support base in Brisbane. But, certainly in the 2019 season, we are going to be forced to look outside Brisbane. We will consider it but it all depends on when our new facility comes around. Our aim is to have it ready for the 2020 season to have our dedicated stadium at Springfield. In between that, we will have to see how we go but we will never say never about moving games.

Q AWhere is the club at as it continues to seek funding for a new facility at Springfield?

We have got 60 or 70 per cent of the funding that is needed to start the facility. We were close to having the deal done at Brisbane Airport but the lighting part threw that out of the way because you could not play AFLW games at night with the planes. The council out at Springfield are so supportive of us and now it is about getting the funding from the State Government, hopefully, which will be announced in the 2018-19 Budget. We really need a place where we can host a 10,000-capacity crowd for our games. That stadium will be purpose-built for us and the whole club will be moved out there. The boys will train there and play at the Gabba.