Jordan Lisle has been made to earn his first senior game for 2013, and Lions Assistant Coach Adrian Fletcher says he’ll be a better player because of it.

Lisle had to wait until Round 19 last year before playing his first game in Lions colours, and held his spot in the side for the remainder of the season.

A promising pre-season campaign then served to fuel external expectations surrounding the 22-year-old, before a modest showing in the NAB Cup ultimately saw him overlooked in preference to new recruit Stefan Martin.

Even Martin’s ankle injury suffered back in Round 4 wasn’t enough for the former Hawthorn forward to be recalled, with Aaron Cornelius and Billy Longer being used up forward in the past couple of weeks.

Fletcher said Lisle’s eventual inclusion into the Lions’ Round 7 side was a direct result of his work ethic, positive attitude, and determination to improve.

“He’s set a great example for the rest of our players. He’s proven that you can push your way into the senior side if you’re prepared to do the work,” Fletcher told lions.com.au.

“And it’s not as though he’s just played just one good game with the reserves. He’s done it continually over a number of weeks.

“That’s what we want out players to understand – that they need to earn their stripes.”

And earn his stripes he has, with 28 goals from six games with the Lions Reserves.

Lisle will now have the opportunity to play alongside Co-Captain Jonathan Brown in attack, and stake claim his claim to that second key forward role.

“We need another big body to assist Browny up there,” Fletcher said.

“We believe those two will work in well together. Both can take good contested mark.”

The Lions have also added considerable senior experience in the form of Simon Black (314 games) and Andrew Raines (105 games), while Cornelius, Longer and Marco Paparone were all omitted.

Fletcher said it was important to find the right mix between youth and experience.

“You want to have a good balance of young and old players,” Fletcher said.

“If you have too many young players in the team at once, they don’t get the same benefits of learning from the more senior bodies.”

“With young players, it’s also normal for them to come in and play for only 3-4 weeks before getting a break.”

“Marco and Billy, in particular, will get to rejuvenate their bodies with a week off."

“Marco has shown enough to suggest he’s going to be a player of the future, and you sometimes forget that Billy is still on 19-years-old because he’s just so big.”