Tom Rockliff, Jack Redden and Daniel Rich were all drafted to the Brisbane Lions from different parts of Australia at the end of 2008, and now form the nucleus of the Club’s midfield future.

As they approach the end of the fifth AFL season, the ‘Three R’s’ are not only established members of the Lions’ senior team, but are also widely recognised as leaders within the group.     

Each have already secured podium finishes on Club Champion night, and would be tipped to feature prominently in future Merrett-Murray Medal vote counts.

But Rockliff says the Lions’ next wave of success will be built on more than just three young players.

“We all got drafted in 2008, and have sort of come through together which is exciting,” Rockliff told SEN Radio in Melbourne on Thursday.

“Matty Leuenberger has been massive for us as well this season.

“(Rich and Leuenberger) have recently resigned which is really good, and I think Pearce Hanley’s about to put pen to paper as well. There are a couple of other boys who are out-of-contract who will probably re-sign in the coming weeks.

“A lot of people forget that not one of us has played over 100 games yet.

“We have the third youngest list in the AFL, so you can see we're still quite raw.

“I think once we can get more games into us, then we’ll see some more improvement. The future is bright for the Brisbane Lions.”