The Lions will make their long-awaited return to the VFL on Saturday when they take on Essendon at the Moreton Bay Sporting Complex on Saturday.
The reigning NEAFL premiers are thrilled to be making a return to premiership action after the 2020 season was cancelled, and excited about the new look competition.
VFL coach Mitch Hahn said while the players that weren’t in the AFL side throughout last season had approached the series of scratch matches with extreme professionalism, they were competitive beasts at heart and would relish the opportunity to once again have points at stake when they laced-up the boots.
“It’s a new era and we can’t wait for our first game this week,’’ he said.
“The boys have all had a terrific pre-season and have been working hard in the warm-up matches to be ready to go come Saturday.
“It is a big competition with a lot of AFL standard players running around every week and the exposure to that can only be good for our players.’’
Competition for places in the AFL side is fierce and every week there will be fringe players hoping to push their case with strong form in the VFL.
Hahn said the series of scratch matches last year had proven to be an ideal avenue to give players greater exposure to AFL quality opposition.
The likes of Deven Robertson, Keidean Coleman, Tom Berry, Tom Fullarton, Jaxon Prior and Jack Payne all took significant steps forward last season.
The same scenario is likely to have played out at other AFL clubs which could only benefit the new competition.
And with the non-AFL Clubs also recruiting strongly over the summer each week was set to provide a tough challenge.
“We saw some great progress made by some of our younger players last year and a lot of that had to do with the opposition they got to play against,’’ he said.
“I think this year with more certainty around the competition the VFL programs will be settled, and the standard will go to another level.
“It’s going to be a terrific competition for our players and something we think our fans can really get behind also.’’
Hahn said the other major benefit of the competition would be the opportunity to align the VFL coaching with the game plan employed by Senior Coach Chris Fagan.
“It’s our goal to produce AFL standard players and we are confident that if an opportunity opens up in the senior side, the players in the VFL will be ready to step up and make the most of it,’’ he said.
