Lions.com.au recently caught up with former defender Nathan Chapman who played 60 games and kicked 13 goals with the Club (Brisbane Bears / Brisbane Lions) from 1993-1997.

What are your fondest memories from your playing days with the Bears/Lions?

Probably just being part of what ended up being a pretty significant shift in the Club.

When I first started, you’d play the game and then go out afterwards and ‘socialise’. But that really changed after we made the Finals in 1995 - then the Club really started to develop a strong brand around a core group of guys who went on to build that future success.

It was interesting being part of that transition. Even though I didn’t end up getting those rewards, it was still great.

I also fondly remember playing at the Gabba when it still had the grassy hill, and watching all the drunken fools slide down it.

Another claim to fame was being part of Shaun Smith’s mark of year at the Gabba. I was playing on him at the time, but he ended up jumping on Richard Champion’s head to take ‘that’ mark.

I remember Champs gave me a spray for letting my opponent jump all over him. I think he was particularly annoyed because Tony Modra had taken Mark of the Year on him a year earlier.

One of my biggest disappointments was actually not playing with Simon Black. He arrived the year I was traded to Hawthorn - so I never had the opportunity to play alongside him.

He’s a wonderful player and it would have been an honour.

Do you still catch up with any of your former team-mates?

I run into them every now and again. I’m living in Hawthorne, right near the Morningside Oval, so I do come across them from time to time.

You have more recently become widely regarded as one of the main facilitators in getting potential AFL players over to the USA on punting scholarships with ProKick Australia. How did that come about?

Even during my playing days at the Bears and Lions, I was always allowed to do torpedos in games and at training. I used to always work on it.

We then went on a football trip in 1994 to the USA, and I saw a game of American Football and fell in love. From then on, I always thought I’d do it one day. So I kept up the torpedo practice, making sure I was always practicing it after training.

Because I finished footy relatively young, I decided to have a go at it. I spent two years training, and 12 months over in the States (he was signed by the Green Bay Packers).

It ended up taking me a long time to get that opportunity, and it didn’t translate into a long career. Because I’d realised first-hand the fall-backs associated with American Football, I thought I’d come back to Australia and help other guys out who were looking to do something similar.

We now basically give kids who decide to leave AFL with another opportunity to have a professional sporting career. Our program can also help them get a scholarship to a University in the States.

We mostly get calls from younger kids who feel a bit rejected after not getting drafted into the AFL and are looking for something else. We basically provide opportunities for the players that the AFL doesn’t want.

Scholarships themselves can be worth around $250,000 - plus it gives them another opportunity to play professionally and study for free.

What sort of success rate have you had in placing potential young punters from Australia?

Right now, we’ve got two kids at Hawaii, and plenty more around the country at Universities such as Portland, East Kentucky, Wake Forrest, San Francisco, Memphis, Wyoming and LSU.

We also have two punters signed with the CFL - the Canadian Football League.

All up, we have around 30 kids placed in college scholarships around the USA.

Two of our guys will play their first game in front of 105,000 each - that’s the enormity of the sport over there. And that’s just college football.

One of the kids used to play for the Northern Knights - and just decided to have a go. Now he’s at University and playing massive games every week.

Do you still keep a keen eye on the AFL?

I actually left the AFL in a funny way, and got a little bit disenchanted with the game to be honest.

I had started playing when I was very young (he was drafted at 17), and by the time I was 25, I was starting to hearing coaches talk about me being too old and too slow. I was only 25 and, in footy terms, just about to reach the peak of my career.

So it was tough not playing anymore, and it wasn’t because I couldn’t - it was because I wasn’t allowed to.

Once I finished, I found it really hard to watch all the guys who I grew up with play. I just couldn’t watch it on TV. You’ll probably hear a number of players and coaches say that you’re either in it, or you’re out of it.

It probably took me 6-7 years before I started to enjoy it again. I even started slowly popping down to training and watching local footy.

What helped me most was being part of ProKick. It kind of got me back into the professional sports world.

Can you see the torpedo ever coming back into the AFL? Do you think it could still be useful in Australian Rules?

I believe AFL guys still don’t know how to kick a football. I can say that because I teach kids how to kick a football.

I just think there is so much more that can be developed from an accuracy and power point of view that the AFL hasn’t opted into.

The torpedo can revolutionise the game again - in learning how to kick for goal or even kicking out from full-back.

The reason the AFL clubs don’t do it is because they see it as being an inconsistent kick. But that’s only because they don’t practice it. It’s actually highly accurate. If they took the time to learn it, it could be a massive advantage.

I know players spend so much time running that they’re not allowed to do too much kicking, but if you’ve got the ball and can kick it 60m, then you probably don’t have to run as far.

I wholeheartedly believe the torpedo could, and should, come back into the game.