In only his second season, Brisbane Lions forward Eric Hipwood is fast emerging as one of the AFL’s brightest prospects.

His famous left boot steered Hipwood to second on the Lions goal scoring ladder, booting 30 major this year.

After kicking three goals in the Lions’ Round 5 loss to the Western Bulldogs, Hipwood earned a Rising Star nomination.

Later in the year, the forward kicked a season-high of four goals in Brisbane’s scintillating win over Essendon in Round 15 at Etihad Stadium.

The 20-year-old stands at 202 centimetres and surprisingly is one of the quickest at the Gabba. In Round 16 against Geelong his pace was tracked at reaching 34.6 km/h.

Hipwood played 20 games this year for the Lions but was robbed of playing in round 23 against North Melbourne because of a knee injury.  

Hipwood was named the Lions 2017 Rookie of the Year at the recent Club Champion dinner.

Statistics:

Games: 20

Disposals per game: 8.6

Tackles per game: 1.3

Marks per game: 3.0

Kicks per game: 6.2

Total goals: 30

Highlights:

Coach’s Comment – Danny Daly, Strategy Coach

"A terrific 2nd year from Eric, who is an emerging young forward talent for the football club. 30 goals and 59 marks of which 22 were contested whilst having to deal with the best defender each week shows that exciting times are ahead for him and our supporters."

In their own words:

“It just felt like David Noble and Chris Fagan, they’re the right men for the job. I felt like the Club was heading in the right direction and I wanted to be a part of it and it would be silly not to sign on.”

“It was pretty easy for me. It didn’t take too much.

“We’ve had our ups and downs but I feel like we’ve improved a lot since last year.

"You can just look at the quarters won and we’ve nearly won more than double since last year.”

  • Hipwood speaking to Lions TV in August after extending his contract until 2020