The Brisbane Lions headed north to Maroochydore this afternoon for their 2016 training camp.
Captain Tom Rockliff said the Sunshine Coast was an ideal training location for the Lions.
"The Coast is a great spot for us, it always has been. The boys love coming up here. We've found it to be very valuable to not only engage with the community but the benefits of training on the Sunshine Coast have been great as well.
"We get a lot of support from here which is important to the Football Club and the players as well. We want to continue to build that relationship."
TR: "The boys will get a lot of value out of the camp especially out at the Maroochydoore MultiSports Complex - it's a world class facility"
— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) January 12, 2016
Rockliff said there was plenty of quality footballing talent in Queensland's North and the Lions were now reaping the rewards with Jono Freeman and more recently Eric Hipwood.
"Those two boys are going really well.
"Jono's been a little bit slow this pre-season he's been starting to get back into it now and he's hit the ground running," Rockliff said.
"Eric's slotted in nicely. It's exciting to have a few key forwards amongst our group now."
The Lions will hold an open training session at Maroochydore Multi Sport Complex (Fisherman's Road) Wednesday morning from 9:00am.