This time last year, the Brisbane Lions headed into the AFL Draft armed with six of the first 34 selections.

This was largely due to a hectic 2013 off-season which resulted in five talented youngsters requesting trades back to their home state, and the Club receiving a wealth of draft selections in return.

It was a far from ideal scenario, but with so many quality picks at their disposal the Club was able to be a bit more strategic in terms of whose name they read out, and when.

Although it’s still probably too early to make an accurate assessment of the players that were ultimately chosen, early indications point to 2013 being a landmark Draft for the Lions, who claimed James Aish (Pick No.7), Darcy Gardiner (Pick No.22), Daniel McStay (Pick No.25), Lewy Taylor (Pick No.28), Tom Cutler (Pick No.33), Nick Robertson (Pick No.34), and Jonathan Freeman (Pick No.62).

All seven of the Club’s selections tasted senior football in 2014, with Aish, Taylor and Gardiner, in particular, finding a regular place in the best 22.

Fast forward 12 months and the Draft promises to a completely different story for the Lions.

This time around, the Club won’t have any live selections until Pick No.65 – having traded off their first two selections (picks 5 and 25 overall) as part of a deal that secured Collingwood star Dayne Beams.

The Lions have also committed to using their third and fourth selections (picks 44 and 61) on Academy pair Liam Dawson and Harris Andrews respectively, and will take Josh Clayton as a Father-Son selection at Pick No.86.

The Lions have never had to wait longer for a live selection in the Draft’s 28-year history, meaning the recruiting staff will be faced with quite a challenge.

But Recruiting Manager Stephen Conole is confident that the Club can still land a player or two who could prove to be valuable acquisitions.

“History will tell you that players selected inside the top 30-40 generally play more senior AFL football than those picked later in the Draft, so we know our work will be cut out for us this year,” Conole said.

“Even though the past two drafts have been poles apart for our Club, we’ve had to do just as much work on analysing and research players this year because we’re very much in the dark as to who might be available at 65.

“Although it will probably be more of a speculative selection, we’ve identified a number of players who we feel might slip down the order and be of real value to our Club.

“You only need to look at the quality of players that have come through the Rookie Draft in recent times to see that there is definite value in those later picks.

“Justin Clarke is a perfect example of a player who wasn’t that highly rated as a junior, but we took a punt on him as a rookie, and he now plays a critically important role for us in defence.

“There are plenty of gems to be found late in Drafts – we just have to do our best to find them.”