So when the off-season exchange period commenced, a big-bodied midfielder who could win clearances was high up on the Club’s recruiting wish list.
That position now looks set to be filled by former Melbourne Best and Fairest Brent Moloney, who is expected to sign with the Lions as a restricted free agent.
National Talent Manager Rob Kerr told SEN on Wednesday night that while it was not yet a ‘done deal’, the Lions were hoping to secure Moloney in the coming days.
“There are still a couple of final steps to go in the process,” Kerr told SEN radio in Melbourne.
“He’ll go up to Brisbane for a medical examination (on Thursday) and then we have to lodge the offer with the AFL. Then Melbourne obviously has the opportunity to match that, or choose not to.”
“We’ve already done a fair bit of research and got some of his medical history, but there’s still the formal medical to be completed.”
Read Rob Kerr's exclusive interview with lions.com.au surrounding the Trade Period
Moloney seems the perfect candidate to improve the Lions’ midfield deficiencies, having ranked second in the competition for total clearances in 2011.
Even during a relatively quieter season in 2012 he averaged 4.7 clearances per game, which would have ranked him behind only Jack Redden (5.1) at the Lions this season.
“We feel that if we’re able to add someone that’s strong in clearances, that should complement our current midfield group,” Kerr said.
“If you look at the stats probably over the last two seasons, we’ve been well down the order as far as clearances go, and Michael (Voss) has been fairly clear that he’d like to find a bigger bodied midfielder.”
“A couple of times during the year we threw Ryan Lester into the midfield mix, and while Ryan did ok, he’s still a young player developing his game.”
“We’d like to think that Ryan might end up there down the track, but a bit of time and effort needs to go into his development first before he’s ready for that.”
