18 Anthony Corrie

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A fast, hard-running small forward with good goal sense. Played four games last season, mainly off the bench, before injuring an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, ruling him out for 12 months. Was delisted at the end of the season but selected in the rookie draft. Renowned for his chasing and tackling.

Hard-running fleet-of-foot Anthony Corrie made strides in his blossoming AFL career in 2005, adding another 19 games to the eight he racked up in his debut season 2004.

Amongst those 19 games was one that will probably stick in the memories of Lions fans - a four-goal display against Essendon at the Gabba which earned Corrie a Rising Star nomination.

Three of those goals came in crunch time during the last quarter, with the Bombers launching a late comeback that had them well-positioned to pull off an upset win. With each of his majors, Corrie exhibited great finishing instincts, as well his fondness for a goal celebration. More celebrations were to come when the final siren sounded with the Lions 13 points ahead.

Corrie eventually finished the season with 22 goals and 13 games of 10 or more possessions - a promising return from a player who spent much of the second half of the season playing as a specialist small forward.

The tackling and chasing of Corrie and fellow goalsneak Ashley McGrath were features of the Lions' mid-season revival and their combined 57 goals gives hope they can both continue to develop in the role once occupied by Craig McRae.

Corrie's eight senior games in 2004 after an injury ravaged 2003 provided a strong foundation to build on.

His debut against West Coast in Perth in Round 4 was a memorable one, coming on early in the second quarter and generating enormous run from half-back. He finished with 16 possessions, one shot at goal highlighting his confidence and leg speed, and as one of the team’s best in a three-point loss.

He had played seven games until Round 12, when he had his jaw broken in a collision with Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher. It was a highly courageous act by Corrie, who was running with the flight of the ball, and his subsequent goal kickstarted his side to victory in a stunning performance at Docklands.

Corrie did get one more chance, against West Coast in Round 19, but was squeezed out at the business end of the season.

An unfortunate finger injury robbed Corrie of the middle three months of his debut season, although he showed some promising glimpses at the end of the year.

Corrie played limited game time in the Wizard Cup and required surgery on the finger early in the Lions Reserves’ season. He played one sparkling game against Southport on his return late in the year and was again prominent at finals time, giving him a good springboard into 2004.

The bubbly boy from the Northern Territory was more than happy to be drafted by the Lions in late 2002.

When exciting then-Bear Darryl White was running around the Gabba kicking goals and taking big marks in 1994, a wide-eyed youngster from Darwin was looking on in awe. Eight years later, the skinny 10-year-old kid who hung on White’s every word was running alongside him.

Corrie still vividly remembers his holiday to Queensland to catch up with his uncle Fabian Francis and watch his team the Brisbane Bears in action. He admitted it seemed a trifle unreal to now be walking around among the big names of the AFL in the Brisbane camp after being drafted by the Lions.

Corrie grew up playing football and rugby league in Darwin with the respective Southern Districts clubs. His family moved house in 2001, living a short walk from the Nighcliffe football ground, where he came under the tutelage of former Bears star and ex-Lions assistant coach Michael ‘Magic’ McLean.

Corrie was a very different player to the 12-year-old taking his first unsure steps out of the Auskick system in an under 14 game.

“They started me on the ball in my first game of 14s, but I didn’t know what I was doing so they chucked me in the back pocket and I stayed there mostly,” he recalled. He played mostly at full-back for the remainder of his junior days, and remained deep in defence or played a tagging role after making his senior debut in the NTFL at 16.

McLean had a profound influence on the dashing Corrie with a simple message for the youngster in the 2001-2202 season.

“He gave me a role to run anywhere I wanted from a half-back flank, and I ended up kicking 24 goals,” Corrie revealed. So effective was he in restricting his forward line opponents before streaming forward to destroy them at the other end of the ground that the Northern Territory under 18 side adopted the same tactic at the July national championships.

“It’s alright at half-back, you can see everything coming your way so you can read the play more,” Corrie said of the defensive rather than midfield role.

He booted three goals to sink Queensland in their round-robin game, and won the Harrison Medal for the best player in Division 2, an honour that he dedicated to his uncle Dempsey Boundary.

“I just wanted to go out and have fun. I tried to kick some goals when I was in the backline because ‘Madgo’ (McLean) taught me that half of the players that you play against don’t man up properly,” Corrie said. “I started crying after I had won the medal because my uncle had passed away the week before and I did a lot of it for him.”

Boundary, a player and coach in suburban Perth football, was always looked up to by Corrie, while Francis and McLean were among his heroes in the AFL.