Irishman Pearce Hanley’s value to the Brisbane Lions is probably best evidenced by the fact he has finished inside the top four in each of the past two Merrett-Murray Medal vote counts.

It has been a meteoric rise for a man who only picked up an oval-shaped football for the first time a little over five years ago and managed just 12 senior matches from his first three seasons in the AFL.

Hanley is now largely recognised as the best Irish export currently playing in the AFL.

In fact, fellow ex-pat Setanta O’hAilpin (who now represents Greater Western Sydney) believes he could one day be spoken about in the same breath as former Irish AFL greats Jim Stynes and Tadhg Kennelly.

While Hanley is humbled by such comparisons, he certainly doesn’t feel any added pressure to do well.

“I’d be more flattered, I wouldn’t say it’s pressure. No one puts more pressure on me than myself,” Hanley told the Irish Echo recently.

“It’s pretty flattering for him to say that. I’ve got a lot of respect for Setanta, he’s been out here playing some good football for a long time and he’s been unlucky with injury, but to hear that is very flattering.”

After missing both the Lions’ intra-club match and their NAB Cup opener last weekend with hamstring tightness, Hanley is set to make his return against O’hAilpin’s Giants this Saturday night in Wagga Wagga.

“I was having a great pre-season but I’ve had a few hamstring issues for the last two or three weeks, which has kept me out of the main training,” he said.

As for his native homeland, Hanley said that while he couldn’t discount one day returning home to play with his local Gaelic club Mayo – it won’t be happening any time in the near future.  

“I’m very happy playing AFL at the moment but I’d never rule it out. Obviously, I’d love to go home and play an All-Ireland but that could be a while down the track,” Hanley said.

“It looks like Mayo is going pretty good already, they’re not too far from an All-Ireland anyway so I might miss out on my chance. But I’m quite happy playing AFL at the moment, and I’m not looking to go home."