He’s the last line of defence for the Brisbane Lions and plays with a maturity well beyond his 21 years.
It was at the Aspley Hornets on Brisbane’s northside where Harris Andrews'
He started playing at just five years old when he was asked to fill in for his cousin’s U8’s side. From there he never looked back and was a Hornet from the next decade.
Looking back, he can still remember the joy that playing footy brought each week.
“That was a really exciting time and I’m lucky enough to be where I am today,” Andrews said.
Andrews recently returned to the Hornets to kick the footy and meet the juniors running around his old stomping ground.
“It’s really good to get back to your club and see a lot of the old faces that are still going around,” Andrews said.
Those old faces included his U12's coach.
“He’s still here and he has a huge smile on his face whenever he sees me,” he said.
“It does bring back good memories.”
As a kid, weekends were dedicated to the footy ground.
“That was a massive highlight when you used to spend hours upon hours on a Saturday watching the Seniors play,” he said.
When he was sixteen Andrews began to think of turning his passion into a profession.
After training with the Lions Academy for a few years, he nominated for the AFL Draft in 2014 and was selected with the Lions' 61st pick.
“I was sitting at home and I was watching on a little computer screen and it pretty much said ‘Harris Andrews is drafted to the Brisbane Lions’, which was a huge moment in my life, for myself, my family and obviously the Aspley Football Club.”
Andrews hopes more from his junior club and Lions Academy players can follow in his footsteps.
“The amount of players that are coming out of those academies is really beneficial for clubs like ours and it all starts at a junior level like this.”
