Reserves Coach Nathan Clarke said his team’s pre-season has been largely focussed on the development of the younger Lions players.
The Lions Reserves have had a ‘mixed bag’ of results throughout the pre-season with player availability largely dictating how the team performed.
“Last week we played a couple of round robin style matches against Aspley - who were close to full strength - and an U18 Queensland Scorpions squad,” Clarke said.
“Because it was the players’ weekend off, we only used six listed Lions players with the remaining 16 coming from our affiliate Western Magpies squad. So it was obviously difficult to compete against those sides.”
“The previous week before we beat both Redland and Morningside. But on that day we had 16 listed players - if you include [NSW/ACT Scholarship player] Richard Newell and [International Scholarship player] Don Barry,” he said.
“This Friday night we take on Aspley again in a full practice match. We could have around 15-16 players available for this game, so will field a much stronger side than last time.”
As part of the ‘trial and error’ process which comes with every pre-season, a number of young Lions players have been working on new aspects of their game.
Aaron Cornelius, for instance, has been playing largely in defence after spending most of his junior days as a forward, while Don Barry has been given more of an opportunity to play in the midfield.
Clarke said there were other players who were benefiting from playing in a variety of roles.
“We’ve worked on improving Ryan Harwood’s spread around the ground considering he’s played mainly as a midfielder. So we’ve given him some pretty valuable experience both on the wing and across half-back,” Clarke said.
“Niall McKeever has been trialled in the ruck, up forward and down back this pre-season. He was great in defence last season, but we’re just trying to add some extra strings to his bow and give his game a bit more variety.”
“Brad Harvey has been solid playing on a wing and across half-back. He has good pace and is neat with his disposal. He actually ran second behind Todd Banfield in the Club’s speed testing. We would just like him to carry the ball a bit more.”
Among those that have most impressed Clarke are the Club’s four selections from the 2010 AFL National Draft - each of whom had a taste of senior action in the Lions’ NAB Cup campaign.
“Patrick Karnezis has come along in leaps and bounds. He is really starting to grow into his body and just needs a bit more time to get used to the rigours of AFL footy,” Clarke said.
“Josh Green has been a real find. I still can’t believe he didn’t get picked up earlier in the Draft, we’re really blessed to have him.”
“Probably Josh’s best attribute is that he never loses his feet so is always there for repeat efforts.”
“Ryan Lester has been another wonderful acquisition. He already has the body to play senior football and will probably be a chance to play senior football this weekend against Fremantle,” he said.
“Jared Polec is another guy who will be right in the mix for Round One. He runs hard and has been getting great GPS results. He also doesn’t mind running forward and kicking goals - he booted a total of four goals in our matches against Morningside/Redlands.”
“He’s been back playing with the Reserves for the past couple of weeks just to try and work on some defensive aspects of his game.”
The inaugural NEAFL season kicks off on Sunday 3 April at 2pm when the Lions Reserves take on reigning premiers Morningside at Esplen Oval.
The Reserves will face Aspley at Graham Road in their final pre-season practice match this Friday at 7pm. Please note that this match replaces the previously planned intra-club match with the Western Magpies originally scheduled on Saturday at Chelmer.
