THE BRISBANE Lions are on the right track says veteran utility Ash McGrath, who believes he has two or three years of good footy left to help them to the promised land.
McGrath will run out for game number 200 against Geelong on Sunday as one of only three players left from the Lions' 2003 premiership team.
The others are future Hall of Famers Simon Black and Jonathan Brown.
McGrath says despite a 3-8 record this season and almost no hope of playing finals, he believes the Lions are still good things for rapid improvement in the near future.
"The last couple of years we've pumped games into the younger boys and we've got the age group that are coming up now," McGrath said.
"As everyone knows we've got the (Daniel) Richs, the (Jack) Reddens, the (Tom) Rockliffs, we just need that group below them to come through.
"We've got 'Yeoy' (Elliot Yeo), (Sam) Docherty, (Patrick) Karnezis, we've got a good list and the team looks good.
"If Blacky can play another year and Browny can play another year, it'd be helpful as well."
McGrath said the re-signings of Matthew Leuenberger and Dayne Zorko – with Rich and Pearce Hanley expected to follow sooner rather than later – shows the Lions are heading in a unified direction.
He is contracted until the end of 2014 and thinks he still has plenty of good football left in him.
The 30-year-old was the most dangerous forward against Fremantle last week, kicking 2.3, and can just as easily be used in the back half.
"I feel like I've got another two or three years left in me so it'll come down to the direction the club's going and if the coaches see me still in the team," he said.
"If I play the following year (2015) I'll be 32 and we'll see where the mind is mentally and the body is physically.
"You never know, as you've seen with a few other teams you can go from the bottom eight to the top eight pretty quickly, so it just takes a good pre-season and things to fall your way."
Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_mikewhiting
