The Brisbane Lions are bullish about their frenetic finish to the 2015 AFL Trade Period that landed North Melbourne midfielder Ryan Bastinac and valuable draft picks to lock-in homegrown talent.
The Lions finalised a complex three-way deal involving Collingwood and the Kangaroos in the dying hours of the Trade Period that also sent midfielder James Aish to the Magpies.
Brisbane CEO Greg Swann said despite some last-minute “argy-bargy’’, the Lions were delighted with gaining Bastinac, picks 38 and 40 for this year’s draft and second and third round selections in next year’s draft.
In exchange, Brisbane sent Aish to Collingwood and picks 17 and 26 to North Melbourne.
“We are very happy with the outcome, especially to get Bastinac in for Aish,’’ Swann told The Courier-Mail.
“Once we knew we could get Bastinac in, we were happy to do the trade for James.’’
Bastinac, 24, played 121 senior games for the Kangaroos after being taken at pick 21 in the 2009 draft.
He was a mainstay of the Kangaroos midfield for a number of years as an inside ball-winner but fell out of favour while adjusting to a more outside role at Arden St this year, playing 17 games but no finals.
He toured the Gabba facilities last week and met with senior coach Justin Leppitsch.
Lions List Manager Peter Schwab said the 184cm, 84kg Bastinac, who signed a four-year deal with Brisbane, would hit the ground running at the Gabba.
“James (Aish) leaves and we get a 24-year-old with 100-plus games who we know can play at the level required,’’ Schwab said.
“Ryan has good skills, good vision and good endurance and more than fills a spot in the midfield.
“As a club, we were determined to avoid a situation where we just got another 18-year-old to replace James. We wanted more than that, and we got it.’’
Brisbane will now have picks 2 and 38-42 at next month’s draft.
The five consecutive picks at the end of the second round and start of the third round will cover the points required to recruit Lions Academy stars Ben Keays and Eric Hipwood.
The 2016 draft picks will also help Brisbane secure Lions Academy talent next year.