Lions Recruiting Manager Steven Conole spoke to Terry Wallace and Cal Twomey on NAB Trade Radio on Tuesday to discuss the talent in the Lions Academy and how they went in the Draft Combine on the weekend.
“Some of the boys like Eric (Hipwood) and Mabior (Chol) tested really well in the speed testing and then Ben excelled with endurance stuff,” said Conole.
“Rueben and Corey were hampered through longer-term injuries, so they probably didn’t test as well.”
“But there’s definitely a nice mix there.”
On managing the draft picks:
“At the moment it’s just a matter of putting our list of how we see the draft, trying to get some points around where we think they’ll fall and then trying to average them up against all the other players around that area.”
“We would certainly love both of the boys (Ben Keays and Eric Hipwood) at the Brisbane Lions but obviously there’s a line where each of the Academy clubs will have to draw it and see where they fall.”
“We always want the Academy kids involved. We love to see that pathway but there will be times where clubs will call and you’re just not prepared to match.”
On the success of Harris Andrews:
“Harris is a fantastic story for us. He was involved in junior footy and continues to grow and develop his game – the last half of his year with the Academy was really outstanding through his backend of his Under 18 season.
“We got pretty good value for him in the draft and he’s gone from strength to strength.
“He’s one of those boys who has a super work ethic, is very coachable, and a is a pleasure to have in our Academy.”
“His progression through to the AFL level and his first season playing down back has just been outstanding."
On when the drafting process:
“We’ve certainly been in the picture for some key position players so really from the start of the year we had our eye on it.”
“We attended the AFL Academy in January and tried to get to know the boys and started to get a bit more background information.”
“Obviously we didn’t know where we’d finish off but you got to have it covered.”
On Schache coming to Brisbane:
“It’s a super positive for us, there’s no doubt about that.
“From the first time we met Josh as well as when we’ve caught up with him at games, at home and at the combine, he’s been very enthusiastic about the thought of moving and more importantly, his family have been as well.
“It would be a good mix for our club, there’s other boys in that mix who would probably show interest to come as well – it’d be a terrific story in a lot of ways wouldn’t it.”
On Eric Hipwood:
“He really burst on the scene didn’t he as an Under 16 carnival player as an over-ager and the ability to kick goals at that level and playing local footy at Caloundra – he kicked multiple goals as well so the ability to go to nationals and play behind the ball.
“Flexibility is an area that Eric will be able to develop further at the next level and can he run through the ruck as well.”
“I’m sure he’ll be a player that all the clubs are honing into – he had plenty of interviews at combine so I’m sure a lot of clubs are watching his vision.”
On this years draft:
“There’s certainly going to be some boys at the backend of this draft but the talls are exceptional in this year’s group and it’s probably the point of difference.”
On Redden’s departure:
“West Coast were really keen to get the deal done and Jack’s been a terrific servant of the club so both clubs sat down and it was more or less done straight away,”
“It was a good result for both clubs and a good opportunity for Jack who can set himself up and hopefully continue his career over with the West Coast boys.”
On the draft combine interviews:
“We’re a club that does a lot of home visits so the majority, if not all the boys we spoke to at combine, we’d already spoken to them at their junior club or their home.
“We’d already got a fair bit of information so it was just a chance to follow-up.”
“Especially in regards to asking some questions to just confirm some of their thoughts on our Club and follow-up on some character references that were received.”
“It’s just that final piece in the pie – you do a whole lot of work throughout the whole year and it is just a concluding part of the season that we need to tick off on.
“It can be intimidating for the boys but I think the kids get better through, by the time they get to this end of the year, they’ve been in multiple interviews situations.
“It’s amazing how well the boys represent themselves and just the quality of the kids to get to this level, just gets better and better each year.”
On the “go home” factor:
“We definitely address that.”
“We bring that up with the boys in their one-on-one and when we’re with their families.
“That’s a constant thing to just trying make sure that the boys we bring in we’re confident that they’ll stay.
“Obviously James (Aish) has shown an interest to part the club but all the other boys over the past few years seem pretty settled so we’ll continue to develop that and develop boys who want to be long term players."
