Lions Senior Coach Michael Voss stressed the importance of increasing the percentage of Queenslanders on the Club’s playing list during the team’s Civic Reception in Toowoomba on Friday.

Voss was joined at the Civic Reception by Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio to help launch the Lions’ 2013 Australia Post AFL Community Camp.

Find out where you can see the Lions in Toowoomba   

As part of the Community Camp, the Lions players and coaches will appear at a range of public events to help spread the AFL word across the local community.

Voss said the annual exercise is important not only for generating greater support in regional areas, but also developing the next generation of AFL players.   

“The Club, and the players, are aware of the responsibility to grow the game,” Voss said.

“We want talent. We have the Lions Academy which is in this region, and we want to make that (connection) really strong so that we can have people in this region play for the Brisbane Lions.”

“Right now, about 85% of our roster comes from other parts of Australia.”

“If we can grow to having 20-25% of our list (being from Queensland) – as opposed to 10-15% - then that’s a very important outcome for us.”

Six of the Lions’ current playing list – Dayne Zorko, Claye Beams, Daniel Merrett, Andrew Raines, Jordon Bourke and Sam Michael – originally hail from Queensland.

Toowoomba is therefore a critical area for growth, particularly as it lies within the Hyundai Lions Academy’s recruitment zones.

The Brisbane Lions’ Strategic Vision towards 2016, compiled at the end of 2011, outlined the Club’s desire to ‘identify, develop and retain a highly competitive list focussing on Queensland talent’.

It also aims towards having 20% of the playing list made up from Lions Academy graduates.

Rookie Jordon Bourke became the first member of the Academy to be drafted to the Lions’ playing list last December, paving the way for future athletes to follow his AFL pathway.