Senior coach Justin Leppitsch has heaped praise on the Club’s first-year players as they finish their maiden AFL preseasons.
 
Leppitsch said the draftees had raised eyebrows within the Vero Coaching Group with their rapid adjustment to the training requirements and the team’s style of play.
 
While competition was hot for spots in the team for the opening NAB Challenge against St Kilda at Burpengary next Saturday, a number of first-year players were pushing hard for selection.  
 
“It’s going to be a bit more difficult for our younger players to get a crack in the NAB Challenge this year – we’ve still got a number of players who debuted last year who are still in the mix to play Round 1,” Leppitsch told LionsTV.
 
“Having said that, Harris Andrews, Liam Dawson, Josh Watts, Josh Clayton – and all the other Josh’s that we’ve picked up – they’ve been going really well and their advancement in the last couple of months has surprised me and a lot of the coaches.
 
“So it’s exciting that if they don’t get their opportunity in the NAB Challenge, they’re playing good enough football that maybe they will debut for the football Club this year.”
 
Leppitsch said with so many new players coming to the Club, he was keen to play his strongest line-up across the preseason competition.
 
“We want to play our best team in the NAB – we’ll suit them all up whether it be for 30minutes, 60 minutes or the full game,’’ he said.
 
“We want to get our best team out there trying to work together – there’s a lot of new players and you can include Daniel Rich and Matty Leuenberger in that, they missed a lot of football last year.
 
“It’s important that we play together and start to work each other out a bit. Dayne Beams hasn’t played in this team before, nor has Allen Christensen and Mitch Robinson, there’s a fair few names to bring into the list who need to work in our system.”