Sam Mayes, Marco Paparone, and Michael Close joined the Lions at Picks 8, 23, and 32 respectively.
Mayes, the Lions first-round pick, is a 187cm midfielder/medium forward from North Adelaide and is an excellent utility player with height, skills, and running ability.
Meanwhile, the Lions have also bolstered their tall forward stocks, with both Paparone (East Fremantle) and Close (North Ballarat) towering over 193cm. Both have elite endurance, while Close also has the ability to back up in the ruck.
Lions National Talent Manager, Rob Kerr, said that the trio would be valuable additions to the Lions list.
“We’ve recruited with a view that we need to develop our next generation forward line - that’s where the overriding philosophy came from,” Kerr said.
“Sam Mayes is a forward who is developing into a midfielder, so we expect him to go into the midfield. He’s a very clever player.”
“Paprone will be a really good connector for us into the back line or the forward line… and Michael Close is a centre half forward who is really competitive.”
“We came tonight with those three boys in our minds as who we wanted to pick - we obviously had backups but those were the three that we wanted to walk away with.”
The Lions also used Picks 86 and 99 to upgrade Jack Crisp and Niall McKeever from the Rookie list.
To view more detailed information on these draftees, click here.
