When Covid 19 forced a temporary halt to the season many players groaned at the thought their long pre-season had led to just one game of footy.

Cam Rayner was slightly different.

From the day he entered the league few players looked to enjoy the game of footy as much as the prodigiously talented former Number 1 draft pick.

The big difference over his first two seasons in the AFL has been his attitude to training.

The penny dropped early last year after he arrived back from his first off-season in less than perfect shape. It was a testament to his desire to be the best he can that he shed 6 kilograms during a season.

He turned up for the start of last pre-season down another 4kgs, taking him back to his playing weight as a 17-year-old.

So when the players were forced into isolation the powerhouse forward saw it as a chance to knuckled down and make a few more gains.

“It was like pre-season 2.0,’’ he said.

“I took it as an opportunity to keep on improving, I went back to Melbourne and I was able to work hard on things I felt I needed to improve on.

“It has been good and when I got back here and started training in pairs I  was able to finetune a few things.

“I feel really fit and strong.’’

Rayner now clearly possesses the work ethic that made his No.16 such a famous guernsey in Club history.

If he was pleasantly surprised to see so many kids with his number on their back when he first arrived at the club it didn’t take long to realise they were in tribute to triple premiership hero Jonathan Brown.

While he knew of Brown’s reputation in the game he admits it only truly sunk in how lucky he was to have inherited the guernsey when he watched a You Tube clip of the Hall of famer recently.

“I think that still happens, I see a kid with 16 on their jumper and I wonder is that for me or another one for Brownie,’’ he said.

“I actually watched a video of him not that long ago and I sat there and took it in and realized he is a superstar of our game I guess I took that for granted and it is an honour to wear that jumper.’’

He said the elevation of Brown and Simon Black to the Hall of Fame this week had made an impact on the young group at the Lions who had dreams of a similar footballing journey.

“They started young together and had success as they grew older and that’s something we want to do here,’’ he said.

“I feel like we’ve got the foundations for that building we just have to keep improving working towards that.

“It is reassuring to see that it can be done.’’