The Brisbane Lions talent build is well on track, with just a few key position players to target, according to Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch.
Leppitsch said a combination of list turnover and injury had produced a much younger side on the field in the first half of 2015 compared to last season - but that was a positive in identifying who was part of the Club's long term plans for success.
“Our list has gotten younger and we’re playing different players in different positions to last year," said Leppitsch on ABC Grandstand.
"Last year we had a bit more maturity in our defensive end – Merrett, Adcock, Patfull – a few more steady heads.
“This year it has been Clarke, Paparone, Harris Andrews, Gardiner. So we’ve been able to put more games into guys who are going to be here in 5,6,7 years time. That’s the positive to take out of it.
“When you look at the players playing in our current side, they are guys who are going to be there for a long period of time.
“We’ve got the youth in defense, plus McStay up forward and even our midfield, they are all around that 24-25 age group – guys like Rockliff, Redden, Christensen – they still have plenty of footy left in them.
“So the encouraging thing is that we don’t have to make long-term changes to those areas. There are some guys who aren’t quite ready today but will be in a few years time.
"Sure there a few key positions that you want to tinker with but I don’t think wholesale-wise we have major issues at the football club.”
Leppitsch said the other major positive to come out of the first half of the season was the development of a number of players in different roles.
Marco Paparone has gone down back, Lewy Taylor and Nick Robertson to the wing, and Dan McStay up forward.
READ: Paparone rated most improved Lion so far in 2015 by AFL
"We’ve move a few guys around and all have responded in the right way," he said.
The Senior Coach said the team's tardy start to the season would be a major focus to fix for 2016.
"We’ve had a slow start again – that’s probably the big thing," said Leppitsch.
"That’s about four or five seasons in a row now that we’ve started slowly at this football club. That’s something that we are definitely going to look at for sure."
