Raines was among the Lions’ best players in the team’s come-from-behind victory over Port Adelaide last Saturday, collecting a career-high 17 kicks and laying seven tackles in what proved to be a tough slog at AAMI Stadium.
The 26 year-old’s stunning performance even prompted Senior Coach Michael Voss to suggest that the midfielder’s “enormous” final quarter helped lift the team over the line.
Raines gathered 10 of his 20 disposals in the frenetic fourth quarter, and booted an opportunistic goal early in the term which helped kick-start the team’s revival.
Across the entire 2012 season, he ranks inside the Club’s top ten in three key statistical categories - total disposals (8th), tackles (5th), and inside 50s (9th) - and is expected to poll well at next month’s Club Champion dinner.
Since moving back to Queensland at the end of 2009, he has played 44 senior matches with the Lions and has established himself as an important member of the Club’s midfield brigade.
Even though he is still relatively young himself, Raines has adopted somewhat of a ‘veteran’ tag and enjoys providing leadership for the likes of Daniel Rich, Jack Redden, Tom Rockliff and co. in the midfield.
Speaking after the game, Raines said that the grinding win over Port Adelaide was further evidence that the young Lions team was growing in confidence.
“We’re starting to get a real belief among the group,” Raines said.
“A lot of the younger players are coming to the fore now. (Against Port Adelaide) we never got the sense that the game was out of reach. We just kept grinding away as the game wore on.”
