Harris Andrews said damage to the Club’s gym in October had been somewhat of a ‘blessing in disguise’.

The Lions were forced to refurbish their gym facilities after it was flooded following a major water leak.

“This is a massive step forward for the Club to get the new facility,” Andrews said.

“It’s sort of been a bit of a blessing in disguise with the new gym and what happened.”

 

Andrews has added some bulk to his frame over the summer and is on track to improve on his breakout season in 2015.

“I’ve put on about four kilos,” he said.

“You don’t want to chuck it on too quickly otherwise your body breaks down. I’m going along alright, just trying to build that strength and get up hopefully to where Stef (Martin) reaches one day.

“I’ve just got to be realistic and try to build from week to week. It would be nice to build on what I did last year.”

Andrews said a focus for 2016 was his offensive ball use in the backline.

“I’ve been making sure I work on short kicking, getting the ball moving in the back half which will help the team as a whole.”

The 18-year-old played on the Lions’ first pick in the 2015 National Draft, Josh Schache, and said he was impressed with the young gun's ability.

“Schache’s been fantastic this pre-season. He hasn’t missed a hurdle. Obviously the tall forwards do take time. It’s a pretty tough position when you’re playing on blokes that have been in the system for 8-10 years like some of the key defenders have been.

“From early signs, from the practice match last week, he loves to have a run and jump at it, he’s got a really good engine for a big fella.

“His endurance work was really good. He’s really quick off the mark making it harder for defenders to mark you. He obviously doesn’t have the upper body strength at the moment to wrestle with the bigger guys but if he keeps on the move it’s going to be a lot easier for him.”