I watched with interest last week as the whole Karmichael Hunt defection from NRL to AFL panned out in the media.

It got me thinking about some of our boys and where they might have ended up had AFL not been their cup of tea…

My first thought was that the Lions could field a pretty handy basketball side.

Jed Adcock would be the starting shooting guard having had plenty of experience as a junior basketballer as a junior. He actually made a few representative teams growing up but left it behind at around 16 to focus more on his footy career.

While Jed would probably be the pick of the team’s smaller guys, Matthew Leuenberger and Joel Tippett would combine to make a pretty formidable frontcourt.

Basketball was a big part of Leuey’s sporting repertoire over in Western Australia before he joined the Lions while Joel - like his brother Kurt - was a gun junior basketballer in Queensland. The tippet brothers represented Queensland in basketball as juniors before being scouted by the local AFL Rookie Search program.

There are also a few players at the Club who could have traded in their footy boots for running spikes. Sure, most AFL players these days are great athletes, but we have a couple in particular that were of the highest quality.

Simon Black was a standout junior 800m and 1500m runner and competed several times at national level. He obviously went on to become one of the most decorated players in our game - so I’m sure there are no regrets there.

18 year-old Lions draftee Kieran King also gave up an Olympic dream to play AFL. He was a national athletics U16 and U17 champion who looked likely to one day make it on the world stage - particularly as a 400m runner. He was eventually swayed towards a career in the AFL and is currently put his pace to good use with the Lions Reserves side.

As for the rival Queensland code of Rugby League, I reckon we have a few boys who would slot nicely in the NRL. In fact, Craig Bellamy has already suggested that Jonathan Brown would make a good backrower.

Daniel Merrett had a preference for Rugby League as a kid and actually played as a schoolboy on the Gold Coast before focussing more on touch football and volleyball as he grew up. He was eventually sold on Aussie Rules after being asked by one of his mates to fill in for one game.

Big Rog has the strength and speed to play League, but he is much too valuable for us down at full-back.

Another guy who absolutely loves his Rugby League is Jared Brennan. He played a bit over in the Northern Territory is a huge fan of the Brisbane Broncos having worn ‘Alfie’ Langer’s number on his back as a kid.

Mitch Clark and James Polkinghorne could also have looked at an alternate sporting career in volleyball.

Mitch actually turned down an AIS volleyball scholarship to pursue his AFL career while Polks flirted with the idea of a volleyball career after making the U15 Victoria schoolboy side with St Bernard’s College in Victoria.

But probably the sport that most players at the Club are proficient in is cricket.

Browny is one that could well have been an Australian fast bowler had he decided to trade in the Sherrin. I remember watching him on The Footy Show a couple of years ago send a delivery down to Australian Captain Ricky Ponting and almost take his head off. The Australian cricket team could probably do with the big fella over in England at the moment.

Daniel Merrett is another one who was apparently a pretty mean fast bowler as a kid.

James Hawksley and Bradd Dalziell were both considered ‘lost’ to cricket when deciding to pursue their AFL careers while Justin Sherman was pretty handy with both bat and ball down in Tassie. Few people know this, but Shermo is actually a third cousin of Ponting and first cousin of former Australian wicket-keeper Richard Soule.

I know I’ve only named a few, but most of the boys at the Club can hold their own in at least another sport. Then you have those guys who are pretty much good at every sport they tried.

Take Scott Clouston for example. He was a gifted athlete down at Brisbane Grammar who was a gun at soccer, cricket, water polo and swimming. He can also roost the Sherrin a long way and could be a good NFL punter one day should he decide to go down that path.

But fortunately for both the Lions and the AFL, there is no danger of any of these guys switching sports.

I know there have been examples of players heading overseas to take a punt in the NFL - but generally that’s been at the end of their AFL careers.

I think it’s a real credit to the AFL that so many players have chosen to pursue the code ahead of other potential sporting interests. The AFL’s development programs and enhanced scouting techniques have also ensured that our game is finding the best possible talent from both around Australia and internationally.