The Brisbane Lions have added four players to the Club today through the 2014 NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

The search for talent stretched far and wide for the Club who added local, interstate and international talent to their list.

The Lions used their first selection, Pick No. 4, to select Vic Country representative, Billy Evans. The tall midfielder will join former Bendigo Pioneers teammate, Jaden McGrath, at the Club.

The Club added further depth to their key defender stocks, selecting Hugh Beasley, from Oakleigh Chargers, with their second selection, Pick No 22.

Beasley has proven he can mix it with some of the best young forwards, keeping former No.1 draft pick, Tom Boyd to just one goal in the 2013 TAC Cup season and was excellent against this year’s number one selection, Paddy McCartin and Peter Wright (Pick No. 8 Gold Coast) in 2014.

The Lions formalised the recruitment of International Rookie, Cian Hanley, the brother of Lions midfielder Pearce Hanley, selecting the Irishmen with Pick No.56.

The 18-year-old, who was a star for County Mayo captaining his side to the All-Ireland Minor Semi-Final in 2014, relocated to Australia last month.

The success of the Hyundai Help for Kids Lions Academy was once again highlighted, with the club selecting another graduate of the program, key position prospect, Matthew Hammelmann from Morningside with Pick No.39.

Hammelmann will join graduates Liam Dawson and Harris Andrews, who were officially selected last week in the 2014 NAB AFL Draft on the Gold Coast.

Recruiting Manager Steve Conole said the Rookie Draft had enabled the Club to add some good depth to their list.

“Today was all about adding depth to our playing list and we feel we have been successful in doing that in all areas of the ground,” said Conole.

“Billy’s a developing inside midfielder from Bendigo and we’re confident that he can continue this development and fulfil a role through our midfield.

“Hugh’s a boy that we’ve watched throughout the past three seasons, although this is the first year he’s had a full uninterrupted season with injury. We’ve been really impressed with his ability to play on talls and smalls. We feel his pace and agility is in the highest echelon, and we’re hopeful he can play a role down back on different types and sizes.

“We were actually very close to using one of our National Draft selections on Matty (Hammelmann), but he ended up missing out given we had already committed to taking Dawson, Andrews, and Clayton so far out from the Draft. So we were ecstatic that he got through to the Rookie Draft and obviously had no hesitation in nominating him as a priority Academy rookie selection.”