The Australian Open has inspired the Brisbane Lions players and coaches to compete in their own tournament at the Gabba to determine the Club’s undisputed king of tennis.

Table tennis, that is.

Followers of the Lions’ Twitter account will have already seen the excitement on the faces of the players when they were greeted by a couple of table tennis tables upon their recent return from Christmas holidays.  

And despite having some slight difficulties in constructing the tables to begin with, they’re now in full operation and are constantly occupied during the breaks in training.

But what began as simply a bit of fun for the players has now escalated into some serious competition.

Mitch Golby took LIONS TV behind the scenes of ‘centre court’ and revealed some of the best, and worst, exponents of ping pong.

“A few of the boys have put together a bit of a ranking system, and Nick Hayes is the number one seed at the minute,” Golby said.

“(Hayes is) quite a good player. He’s got a good forehand, but not much of a backhand, but he’ll work on that.

“I’m ranked about 11 and have been sliding lately after playing some terrible table tennis.

“Pearce Hanley started a little bit lower, around the 13 mark I think, and has worked his way up to third, so the Irishman is doing his country proud.

“The worst players are the big fellas (Leuenberger, Clarke and Michael), while Rohan Bewick is overachieving at 31 – I don’t know how he’s ranked there,” he said.

Rookie Zac O’Brien seems to be the pick of the first-year players at 12, with Daniel McStay (29), Tom Cutler (32) and Lewis Taylor (35) also around the mark.

The coaches are also getting in on the action, although only two appear in the top 25 – Manny Lynch (6) and Justin Leppitsch (13).

Although Golby didn’t reveal exactly how the ranking system works, there doesn’t seem to have been any major objections as yet.

Current Table Tennis Rankings (Top 10)
1. Nick Hayes
2. Ryan Harwood
3. Pearce Hanley
4. Jack Redden
5. Dayne Zorko
6. Manny Lynch
7. Michael Close
8. Joel Patfull
9. Jordan Lisle
10. Marco Paparone

Fans can watch the Lions' ping pong battle video by visiting the Club's official YouTube page