THE AFL's Road To The Draft Team, with special guest Brenton Sanderson, expect the Brisbane Lions to do well in next week's draft after holding their own mock draft on AFL.com.au today. In their mock draft, the team predicted the first 30 selections in the 2015 Draft.
Within the top 30 selections, they expect the Brisbane Lions to cash in with three new players.
With pick two, Callum Twomey expects the Lions to pick up Josh Schache.
"Well this is a bit of a no-brainer I think," said Callum Twomey.
"The Lions have been looking for a goal-kicker for years... Schache's had an amazing year, he kicked 24 goals in the Championships.
"That's the most ever in a National Carnival.
"His kicking is elite for a tall forward.
"He's a bit of an unconventional tall forward in the fact that he's about 200cm's and there's not heaps of them that go around.
"But the fact that he can run a 14+ beep, he's smart, he's pretty clever at ground level, he ticks alot of boxes.”
AFL Academy Head Coach Brenton Sanderson echoed Twomey's positivity towards the young key.
"He's going to be a quality player," said Sanderson.
Sanderson believes that you will see Schache make an impact in his first year, but says it won't be until his third or fourth year that we see him blossom into one of the competitions elite players.
"I think it's hard for key position players to come in and make an impact straight away.
At Pick 15, Twomey predicts Adelaide to bid on Hyundai Help For Kids Product, Eric Hipwood. Sanderson believes the Brisbane Lions will be quick to match that.
"Straight away I'm matching that," said Sanderson.
"We really like Eric Hipwood. He's a Queensland boy, he's part of our academy.
"200cm's, he can play forward and back. He's played both footy at both and an All Australian this year.
At pick 16, Twomey then predicted Adelaide to pick Ben Keays, another Hyundai Help For Kids Lions Academy Product.
"He'll be able to come in next year and play Senior footy right away," Twomey said.
Sanderson, taking on the role of Stephen Conole, said he expected the Lions to match the bid.
"I think we'd do it... We really like Benny Keays"
"He's an accumulator, he's smart, he's hard, he's really fit, he runs, he plays plenty of footy for us in our AFL side.
"If we (The Lions) can bring in Schache, Hipwood and Keays... i think we're happy with that."
