TALL ORDER
The challenge is clear, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel for Queensland battlers, says Alastair Lynch
AS IF losing your two captains – bookends to boot – wasn’t bad enough, seeing your fullback go down with a serious knee injury was like a dagger through the heart.
Brisbane Lions legend Alastair Lynch was on assignment for Fox Footy at Gold Coast training earlier this month when veteran Suns defender Rory Thompson’s season ended before it had begun – after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament.
“I don’t think they want me back,” said the three-time premiership player who had spent the day brushing up on all things Suns alongside Stuart Dew and the rest of the coaching staff.
As well as regular playerwalkouts, the Suns have endured a wretched run of injuries since day dot.
The curse it seems contin- ues. “The coaches were just scratching their heads thinking ‘gee, is someone else going to go down?’,” Lynch recalled.
“I think someone else did knock themselves out during that session as well.”
Thompson, who was part of the initial Suns squad, all the way back when they were in the TAC Cup in 2009, was to be even more crucial to the struggling outfit following the defection of long-time partner-indefence Steven May to Melbourne.
“When you lose your best two best players, your captains (May and forward Tomlynch), and then your most experienced defender goes down in the pre-season it does make it pretty hard on a young team,” Lynch said.
It leaves the inexperienced Jack Leslie, undersized Port Adelaide recruit Jackhombsch and draftee Sam Collins as thosemost likely to be standing the Ben Browns, Lance Franklins and Josh Kennedy’s of the AFL world. Tough gig.
But, it wasn’t all doom and gloom during Lynch’s visit.
The 306-gamer saw enough to suggest there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel for a club seemingly as far away from a first finals appearance as they were when introduced to the AFL in 2011.
How long that tunnel is, we’re just not sure yet.
“I think they’ve got some high-quality coaches in place and finally had a pre-season with their new training facility ... and the training facility is incredible.” While touring the $22 million headquarters at Metricon Stadium, Lynch got a taste of the club’s new approach to building a sustainable future – literally.
“I went up to the kitchen area, you’ve got the chef up there doing lunches. It’s a fair step up from where it used to be, and from where it was when I was playing (when Carrara was the Lions’ home),” Lynch said. “They are going about the rebuild in the correct way. They’ve put the right foundations in place.”
It may be a small facet but important when making the place feel like home for a bunch of teenagers and early-20 somethings, many of whom having shifted a couple of states and away from family.
While the players are still lifting the same weights as they did in the old shed, the surroundings are lifting spirits.
Retention is the key to the Suns success and again they’ve reloaded at the draft table.
“They’ve got enormous talent moving forward with Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine,” Lynch said of the No.2 and No.3 picks from last year’s draft. You can also throw in no.6 Ben King.
“Those guys won’t play every game. They are going to have to be looked after. You don’t want them getting knocked around physically in their first year.
“They are looking to develop these kids in the right way
“It’s just a matter of how quickly they can turn it around. They just can’t take any short
cuts.” Retention has been key to the development of the mob up at the road at Brisbane, the Lions seemingly on the verge of something special with the list they have put together – and, most importantly, held on to.
“Highly talented, they are ready to take another step,” Lynch said of his former club.
“I don’t feel the Lions are going to burst into the finals just yet, (but) they are setting themselves up to do that in the near future.
“If they can go from five and five (wins in the past two seasons), win 8-11 and set themselves up again, they are doing a lot right.”
Dayne Zorko, the skipper and four-time best-and-fairest winner, remains the heart and soul of the Lions but there are now plenty of others willing to bleed for the club’s cause.
“Harris Andrews is a star, a high quality leader as well,” Lynch said.
“That new wave coming through together – (Jarrod) Berry, (Hugh) Mccluggage, (Cameron) Rayner – they are taking ownership of the club.”
As a key forward who kicked more than 600 career goals, Lynch has earmarked two young spear-spearheads in Dan
Mcstay andnd
Peter
Wright as players who can have the biggest impact for the Lions and Suns re-espectively.
“Both thosethose guys are enormouslynormouslyy talented andd hhave bothbth beenb iin the systemfor a few years now,” Lynch said.
“They are no longer just the raw first, second, third-year player. They’ve got to the stage where they’ve filled out. They’re strong enough and if these guys can actually step up, it will make an enormous difference to their squads.”
The 203cm Wright is entering his fifth season and, until now,, has pplayed second fiddle too Lynch.
Hhee played just sevsevenv games lalasta year, resstricted by a knee injury. He was a top-10 draft pick from 22014 and oonce kicked fivfiveive goals in a Qclqclash.la
Lynclynchc found himself throwingthrr balls tto Wwrightiht whenh called in to help out by the Suns at training during the pre-season.
“He is going to be critical just to give the inexperienced midfield a target forward,” Lynch said. “He probably doesn’t run on a straight lead like Ben Brown but he’s got that size.”
Mcstay, who has spent time in defence at the Lions, has been largely unheralded but is supremely athletic and can take a pack mark.
“(Eric) Hipwood has been the game-breaking forward, and Eric needs to keep evolving. (But) I can see Mcstay as the real centre point and Hipwood the one that roams around,” Lynch said.
“Brisbane definitely can take a couple of extra steps if you’ve got someone like Dan Mcstay providing that consistent performance that we’ve seen snippets of.” Foxtel is the home of AFL in 2019, with FOX FOOTY taking fans closer to all the action on and off the field with every game of every round, plus all finals games leading into the Grand Final, LIVE in HD and ad-break free during play.