Lions.com.au wraps up the latest player movements for the Club on day six of the 2015 Trade Period.
Lions Welcome Three
The Lions welcomed three new recruits to begin the final week of the 2015 Trade Period.
List Manager, Peter Schwab, confirmed yesterday morning that Carlton’s Tom Bell and Geelong’s Josh Walker and Jarrad Jansen would join the Lions.
The Lions parted with picks 21 and 60 for pick 41 and Bell, an inside midfielder with 51 games experience, who flagged his intention to return to his home state of Queensland in mid-August. Bell will be contracted to the Lions until the end of 2018.
In a second trading coup, the Lions also announced today that they had secured key forward Josh Walker and young midfielder Jarrad Jansen from Geelong in exchange for a future third round draft pick.
Walker kicked 19 goals in 16 matches in 2015 and has played a total of 33 games. At 196cm and 99kg, he will provide a mature-bodied presence in a Brisbane forward line that lacked experienced targets in 2015.
Jansen was taken by the Cats at Pick No.36 in the 2013 National Draft. Though he was unable to play a senior game for the Cats, he was named as an emergency in 2015 and finished runner-up in the Cats’ VFL Best and Fairest.
Also, very excited about my future with the @brisbanelions , hoping all new players are handed these on arrival...? pic.twitter.com/Ki4m4hGzjT
— Josh Walker (@walkerj34) October 19, 2015Pumped to be continuing my footy at the @brisbanelions & thanks to @GeelongCats for the past 2 years, it's been an unforgettable experience!
— Jarrad Jansen (@JarradJansen) October 20, 2015On Astbury and Aish
Schwab also virtually ruled out the prospect of Richmond's David Astbury joining the Lions. Astbury has a year to run on his contract at the Tigers.
“We were in discussions and Justin knows him well.
“I guess we’ve also got the other factor of making sure we’ve got enough points in the system for our Academy boys.
“We’ve got two very good players this year that we think will get bid on reasonably high, so we wanted to make sure we had enough in the tank and the Aishy deal hasn’t quite gone anywhere so there weren’t enough there.
“In the end we made a call as a football club to hold fire, just after a number of the deals we did today and just wait and see."
Schwab said Collingwood was yet to make an offer for James Aish but it would need to offer more than a second-round pick to secure the talented young midfielder.
“It’s in Collingwood’s hands; they’re the Club he said he wants to go to. So Collingwood need to satisfy Brisbane."
“What we don’t want to come out with is James Aish for a second round pick – that won’t do it.”
“If that’s the case, he will go through (to the draft)."
