‘We’ll run the show’: Lions’ favourite sons return
THE ADDITION of Liam Jones to Palm Beach Currumbin’s back six rightly stole all the pre-season headlines but it’s the inclusion of two familiar faces that should have Lions fans expecting big things in season 2022.
Longtime best mates, Palm Beach juniors and two-time QAFL premiership players Tyler Cornish and Tom Thynne have returned from their single season sojourn down south to right the Lions’s wayward QAFL ship back to finals contention.
In Cornish’s words: “We’ll run the show in the middle”.
The midfield pairing that played massive part in Palm Beach’s 2017 and 2018 grand final wins is back after a season at Wangaratta Rovers in the highly competitive Ovens & Murray Football Netball League.
Thynne won the Rovers’ best and fairest as a fly-in, fly-out midfield star. Without the talented tandem running through the middle the Lions struggled last season, finishing eighth and missing finals for the first time since 2015.
“Not making finals last year is well below-par for Palm Beach,” Cornish said.
“To sit here and say we want to make finals is obvious, but we’re aiming for a flag like we always are.
“Anything short of that and I personally, and the club as well, would be disappointed. That’s our ultimate goal. If we can’t do that we have more work to do.”
After a year away from the club the 26-year-old is relishing a new leadership role alongside skipper Thynne, as the Lions navigate new waters with an exciting crop of young talent coming through the ranks.
Young defender Harry Day is running “AFL times” in fitness testing and is expected to thrive in the Lions’ back six under the tutelage of Jones, while new recruits Brad Stafford and Cameron O’leary have turned heads in preseason.
But Jones is the headline maker and for good reason, Cornish says.
“The way he goes about it you can tell he’s worked at an elite level,” Cornish said.
“He comes in with a high footy IQ and knowledge of the game that really resonates with the boys. He’s gotten the respect of them straight away.
“He’s also probably in his prime which is a key point. A lot of exAFL players have played in the QAFL before, but I don’t know many that have played at the peak of their powers. It’s heartbreaking for him the situation he was put in, but I couldn’t speak more highly of the guy.”
Palm Beach opens its 2022 QAFL campaign at home to Surfers Paradise in a 2019 grand final rematch that promises to be a blockbuster Gold Coast derby with plenty of interest.