Had an interrupted start to the year with injury and just couldn’t get any continuity. He’s important to our defence and has great leadership and with a good pre-season will be sound again and ready to go.
Matt Austin
Played quite a few games last year (2009) but has to improve his work-rate. He has got very clean hands and is good under pressure but his broken ankle midway through the season in reserves slowed him down.
Todd Banfield
Was one of our good stories. He used to struggle to run out games and he got through a full 22-game season, which was extraordinary. His strength was his defensive pressure and he got plenty of shots on goal. A very exciting player we hope will keep improving.
Callum Bartlett
Did the same knee he came to the club with and needed another full reconstruction. Will be out until midway through next season but has youth and a lot of talent on his side. Paul Licuria needed two reconstructions early in his career and played 200-odd games.
Claye Beams*
Had a good year in the reserves and has the same attitude as his older brother Dayne. He’s good in the contest, good overhead and is a real professional kid. We think he has a good future in the midfield or at half forward.
Simon Black
He just keeps getting better like a good bottle of red wine. Hopefully Richy and the other young guys can take the pressure off him because we have to plan ahead for when he starts getting tired. He is still a very important player for us.
Jared Brennan (Gold Coast)
His first five games were outstanding but he just lost continuity with the ankle injury. He’s having an operation on it in the off-season.
Jonathan Brown
Got off to an absolute flyer and was probably in career-best form that first month. That small stomach injury led to his groin and he certainly wasn’t able to train at full velocity. In games he just couldn’t get to every contest but once we put him out to pasture he came back and won us a couple of games (West Coast and Essendon). He’ll have a full pre-season and will be fine.
Amon Buchanan
He wouldn’t have been that happy with his season. Had a couple of injuries and got a bit sore but he was very professional and brings a lot to the table as a small forward and midfielder.
Jamie Charman
Had a good pre-season but got hurt (ankle) in a practice match against Carlton and he was wearing a boot for the rest of the season. He’s a great guy to have around the club and he’s starting to train again now so should get a full pre-season.
Mitch Clark
Probably didn’t play to the standard of last year but we still saw some great stuff. He had to fill a few holes and had to share time in the ruck with Matt Leuenberger playing so well. Mitch did a great job as a deep forward and also at centre half-forward as that link player. We need to settle him down in a spot because that’s when he plays his best.
Xavier Clarke
He only played the one game and had a setback (hamstring). With a full pre-season he’ll be that outside player we want, a winger and half-forward with some pace.
Tom Collier
Only played a handful of games but he’s developing all the time. We’ve been happy with his improvement. He’s a half-back who we think can play on smalls or talls.
Aaron Cornelius
He’s got a lot of talent and probably has the best hands in the club. It’s really important for Aaron to take that next step with his work-rate. He’s developing, but we want to make sure he’s an all around player so we need him to work a little harder.
Josh Drummond
He’s a really important player and his knee injury was a big blow. He could have played at the end of the season and if it was a final he would have, but we wanted him to have a full pre-season.
Josh Dyson*
He’s a good kid and showed good speed but glandular fever got him. If he can get another full pre-season into him, he could be good for us.
Brendan Fevola
If we got the ball into him quick, he kicked goals. He’s one of the best players I’ve seen at keeping his feet and when he got the groin problems he started going to ground. We don’t expect him to kick 100 goals so we were happy with his 48. We’ll see the exciting Fev back next year.
Mitchell Golby*
He was playing half-back in the reserves but did his knee which cost him most of the season. Needs another pre-season of weights and running and he can definitely offer us something.
Pearce Hanley
He was an exciting story for us this year. It’s his third year and once he got in the team he gave us that straight run from defence. He’s growing and we’re very happy with him. He’s also good overhead and the closest thing to Tadhg Kennelly I’ve seen.
Ryan Harwood
It was a positive for him to play as many games as he did. We thought he was tired at the end of the year but Jonathan Brown said “the more games we get into this guy, the better it’ll be for the Lions”. You don’t get a bigger rap than that. He needs to work on his engine but he makes good decisions and the tougher it is, the better he goes.
James Hawksley
We’ve re-signed him and think he can play that wing role and get back and be that extra defender we need. Lost his form halfway through the season and that was mainly due to losing his confidence.
Travis Johnstone
Had some really good games for us but just didn’t do it consistently. He’s a smart player and we think he’s improved as a footballer with his strength in one-on-one contests. He’s just got to put it all together.
Matthew Leuenberger
He was a great story for us, playing all 22 games after his knee reco last year. He can tap the ball and go after it and get his 15 or 16 possessions. He’s just a workhorse.
Matt Maguire
He’d missed a lot of footy before this year but did a great job. He’s a leader in our defence and we think he can hold down that centre half-back position in the future.
Broc McCauley*
Another ruckman who played in the reserves and showed us his strength is his ability around the stoppages. He’s a Charman-type who likes the crash-in, contact style of play. Needs another good pre-season.
Bart McCulloch
If we can get him on the park a bit more I think we’ve got a footballer, but Bart’s had a few quad issues. He’s a second ruckman but has good ability going forward.
Ashley McGrath
He was in All-Australian form at the end of the season and gave us great run from defence. Had a great season but we think his best is still in front of him.
Niall McKeever*
He hadn’t even kicked a footy before he got here from Ireland. Did really well in defence in the reserves and gave us everything he had in every contest.
Daniel Merrett
After his hamstring injury we probably brought him back too quick against Barry Hall (seven goals) because we were a bit thin in defence. The ball came in lace out and there wasn’t much he could do. After that he was solid though and was getting the ball to ground well.
Jesse O'Brien
Had his one game against Carlton and didn’t look out of place. He’s a winger or half forward but Jesse’s got a very light frame and needs to work on that.
Joel Patfull
He played a number of positions through the season but we have to figure out his best one. He didn’t look out of place in the midfield and did a good job on Travis Boak of Port Adelaide in a run-with role.
James Polkinghorne
We had him playing on the likes of Gary Ablett and Adam Cooney which was great for his education. He got a cork mid-season which took him some time to get over but we definitely see James as a midfielder who can go forward like he did for us in his first season.
Luke Power
He had a solid year and is still getting tagged which is a mark of his standing in the competition. So we threw him around a bit, half back, half forward and in the middle and he did well. We think he can be a goalkicker for us.
Albert Proud
We found a role for him as that defensive half forward which is extremely important. He also showed he could kick goals against Melbourne. After Alby’s self-imposed break from the club, he was rejuvenated and did everything he could to get in our top 22.
Andrew Raines
Had a disrupted pre-season and we started him on a wing but he lost his way. Then we moved him to defence and he did a quad so it didn’t quite go to plan. Disposal let him down and it’s something he knows he needs to work on.
Jack Redden
We’re really happy with his season. He was busy, had some 30-possession games and was good under pressure. Still needs to improve his kicking but we feel with continuity and training he’ll improve that.
Bryce Retzlaff
Played centre half-forward in the reserves and has done a lot of work with Browny. He was unlucky not to play in round 22. We just feel he needs to work on his contested marks.
Daniel Rich
Couldn’t quite repeat his first year, but he wasn’t far from it. He got tagged a bit which was tough and when we lost Drummo we moved him back to that creative backman role, but ultimately we see him in the middle. He’s a leader at the club but people seem to forget he’s still just a teenager.
Michael Rischitelli (Gold Coast)
Had a great year and it was a pity he didn’t make the All Australian squad. He played the run-with roles early but was then a midfielder on his own. He won the hard ball but he improved his loose-ball gets which made him an elite midfielder.
Tom Rockliff
Had a good pre-season, got himself a personal boxing coach to come back in great shape and we saw the results. Played on some very good players like Jobe Watson but still got off and got plenty of his own ball. Tom’s a smart footballer who really reminds me of Jimmy Bartel.
Troy Selwood (delisted)
‘Bunno’ showed his character in his final year at the club. He didn’t get many games, but he was always upbeat and never whinged and was a great person we loved to have around. Always put his body on the line as we saw against Essendon.
Sam Sheldon
This year wasn’t as good as his first one after a disrupted pre-season. Sam needs to build his body up but he’ll be a late maturer. You don’t play finals (as he did in 2009) if you don’t have good attributes.
Justin Sherman (traded to Western Bulldogs)
He started the season well but lost his way like a lot of other guys.
Brent Staker
Had a very good year and showed just how versatile he is, playing back, forward and in the middle. We bought him to the club to play that hit-up type forward but with all our injuries down back he had to shift and did very well.
Cheynee Stiller
He played a few good games early, missed out, then came back well at the end of the season. He can run all day and we think we found a spot for him at half-back. He also improved his contested possessions.
Sean Yoshiura*
We played him as a tagger in reserves. Sean has a fair bit to work on but he’s a good size and is a prospect. He’s come from a running background so will just take a little extra time.
* Rookie-listed player
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
