Lions member Carl Nimb puts his match committee hat on and attempts to select his 'Best 22' ahead of the Lions' season opener against Hawthorn on Saturday 22 March.

In the final instalment of this three part series, I’m taking on the task of reviewing the Brisbane Lions forwards with the aim to picking the six players who will provide the main targets in attack for Round One.

Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch has a mix of youth and experience in the forward line, but will need to decide on the combination that he believes is best equipped to kicking a winning score.

The forwards on the Lions’ list that I considered were; Jonathan Brown, Michael Close, Jonathan Freeman, Josh Green, Jordan Lisle, Stefan Martin, Sam Mayes, Ashley McGrath, Luke McGuane, Jackson Paine, Marco Paparone, Brent Staker, and Dayne Zorko.

The first positions to consider are the key forward spots, those being centre half-forward and full-forward, and supporters can expect them to be filled by Jonathan Brown and Brent Staker.

Brown is a Club legend and all-time great and still demands the best defender from the opposition. Although he has had a slightly stalled pre-season. the aim was always for a Round One start. He won the Lions’ goal-kicking for a record fifth time last season and still has plenty to offer this year.

I think that we will see Brown playing more out from the goal square and not roaming too far beyond the forward 50. He is an excellent kick for goal and if he keeps close to the sticks, he could see another 50-60 goal season, fitness permitting of course. His strength in the contest, knowledge of leading patterns and goal sense will provide headaches for any full back.

Brown will be an invaluable mentor for the young generation of Lions forwards coming through the ranks at the Club.

All Lions fans will be happy to hear that Brown will have his first official hitout for the pre-season this Saturday against the Swans at the Festival of Football at Burpengary.

Staker takes the other key offensive post and has the added quality of being able to swap into the backline should the need arise. In his return last season he kicked 21 goals in 15 games, which included that match-winning goal against Essendon from the boundary line in Round Eight.

He provides a great mobile target for the Lions midfielders and is set for a season predominately in the front half of the ground.

The beauty of having Staker in the line-up is that he can swap to the defensive end of the ground if the Lions coaching staff want to send Merrett forward at any stage of the game.

Having Leuenberger and West push forward at various times to support Brown and Staker will be invaluable against a Hawthorn outfit that will be without Brian Lake, who will be serving a suspension from last year’s Grand Final.

The next positions to consider are the half-forward flanks, which will I think currently belong to Dayne Zorko and Sam Mayes.

Zorko avoided the second season blues in 2013 and was one of the Lions’ most consistent performers. He showed a manic desire when he did not have the ball, averaging 5.3 tackles, which added great pressure in the Lions’ forward line.

Zorko also averaged 15 disposals a game, kicked a personal best 26 goals, and always showed great enthusiasm for the contest. He is the type of forward that all clubs want in their starting line up and has the added capability of spending time in the midfield when required.

Mayes had a brilliant debut season, spending his time across the half-forward line and on the wing. He debuted against the Gold Coast Suns with 21 disposals and 10 marks and his form continued for the rest of the year. He finished with 12 goals for the season and averaged 17 disposals per game. He showed incredible composure, great decision-making and clean ball use at a level far above a first year player.

Mayes is another young gun who has shown faith in the direction that the Club is heading, recently extending his contract until the end of 2016.  

The forward pockets I expect will be taken up by Josh Green and Marco Paparone.

Green is a small forward that formed a great combination and understanding with Zorko last season and also provides great pressure inside the fifty. He has fantastic acceleration off the mark and a great goal sense, which saw him kick 24 goals from his 17 appearances. Green, who was once known as the team’s ‘super sub’, developed greater endurance last season and showed that he’s more than capable of becoming a valuable four-quarter contributor for the Club.

Paparone is another first year player that showed the Lions faithful glimpses of a bright future in the senior side. He debuted against North Melbourne where he kicked three goals and ended playing five games in total. He is an elite endurance athlete and after a solid pre-season should see far more game time this year.

Accordingly, I see the Lions’ starting team for Round One against Hawthorn looking something like this:
 

I believe this is the strongest line-up the Lions can put out against the reigning Premiers. There is a good blend of youth and experience.

The midfield, flanks and pockets are filled with strong ball winners and power runners with elite endurance who are also very versatile across a number of positions.

The key position players all have good experience and exposure, Clarke being the only exception, at AFL level. They give the Lions composure and calmness in what can be an adrenaline fuelled environment.

There are some forwards unlucky to miss out on a Round One spot, and this again comes down to having a list that is relatively healthy just two weeks out from the start of the season.

Ashley McGrath is one of two veterans in the team (Brown being the other) who was part of the last Lions premiership winning team. He had an inconsistent season last year but I don’t think that any Lions supporter will forget his kick after the siren to defeat Geelong in a fantastic come back victory at the Gabba.

To top that afternoon for him and the Club, McGrath was celebrating his 200^th AFL appearance.

McGrath provides the Lions with great depth should injuries strike at either end of the ground, even though he is slated for a predominately forward role this year.

Luke McGuane comes back to Queensland after nine seasons with Richmond where he played predominately as a defender. Last season saw him spending more time forward as the third tall and ended up kicking 20 goals in the 12 games that he played. He has had a good pre-season back in the heat and humidity of Brisbane and provided a great target for the Lions in the NAB Challenge against the Gold Coast Suns in Townsville, finishing with three goals for the afternoon.

McGuane is another player that provides options to the Lions match committee with the versatility of being able to play as the third tall at either end of the ground.

I see the majority of Jonathan Freeman, Jordan Lisle, Michael Close, Stefan Martin and Jackson Paine playing most of their game time with the Lions’ NEAFL team during season 2014. I expect that they will be working on a number of aspects of their games with a focus on their positional play, leading patterns and strength in one-on-one contests.

If Brown or Staker were to suffer injury at some stage this season, these young guys will have their chance to shine in the AFL and put forward a case for a spot in the senior side on a more regular basis.

Well, that is my wrap of the Lions’ list.

The starting 22 have some seriously exciting and skillful players, which are more than capable of matching any team in the competition. Having a team pretty much injury-free as the season is about to kick off is a massive plus for Leppitsch and ensures continued competitiveness at every training session for starting spots.

I’ll be interested to see how close (or far off) I was with my prediction when the Lions announce their Round One side in a couple of weeks’ time.

In the meantime, make sure you head to Burpengary on Saturday if you have the opportunity and watch the Lions in their final hit out against the Swans. It promises to be a great afternoon.

Carl Nimb is an independent writer and Lions Member (#2604559) who will contribute to lions.com.au throughout the season.

You can follow him on Twitter @CarlNimb