In just his third season, 20-year-old Harris Andrews is a player his Club hopes to build a future around.
The Brisbane Lions’ key defender reads the play well, is a great mark and uses the ball well.
Without 200-game veteran Daniel Merrett and Justin Clarke, who retired last season, Andrews has taken on more responsibility in the backline.
Merrett’s leadership qualities were second to none, and fortunately for Andrews, he had the invaluable opportunity of working closely with him in his last two seasons at the Club.
“We’ve got a pretty young group down back which I think is really exciting,” said Andrews.
“I’m really looking forward to working as a team and increasing that chemistry out on the ground. Overseeing that as a group and seeing the results, it’s going to be really impressive over the next couple of years.
“It’s not all going to happen at once, it’s going to take a bit of time but I can’t wait for that process to continue to happen.”
The Queenslander, a graduate of the Hyundai Help for Kids Lions Academy, was voted as a member of the Club’s Leadership Group this season for the first time.
“I’m really enjoying my time and learning a lot of things,” said Andrews of the role.
“It’s really good having Dayne (Beams), Rocky (Tom Rockliff) and Zorks (Dayne Zorko) as leaders as well – I think we’ve done a fairly good job this year.“
“Obviously we haven’t had the wins that we want, (but) we are certainly improving in that regard and in our on-field leadership.”
The Lions will meet Fremantle tomorrow afternoon at the Gabba and while the Club has a 1-9 record, Andrews said a confident start would put the home side right in the contest.
“For us probably the most important thing is to be aggressive from the start,” said Andrews.
“We’ve struggled in home games and we’ve struggled in first quarters – so our ability to be thereabouts at quarter time and right in the contest will be really important.
“They’ve got a lot of good outside speed in Brad Hill and Stephen Hill, and even Michael Walters has been playing in the midfield a fair bit.
“Our ability to win the ball on the inside and use our run on the outside is going to play a massive hand in whether or not we win on the weekend.”
