The Lions acquired Carlton full-forward Brendan Fevola, Sydney premiership player Amon Buchanan, Richmond defender Andrew Raines, West Coast utility Brent Staker and St Kilda pair Xavier Clarke and Matt Maguire in what proved to be one of the most active off-season recruiting periods in recent history.
The Club also welcomed a further 10 fresh faces via the AFL’s National and Rookie Drafts.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Brown told 3AW’s Sports Today program last week.
“It gives a fair few of us older blokes some hope that we might be coming into a successful period.”
“We finished 6th last year and hopefully with these inclusions we might be able to bump up to being a top four side. But at the moment we’re certainly not thinking about that. We’re just concentrating on the pre-season,” he said.
He said that Senior Coach Michael Voss saw the trade period as an opportunity for the Club to effectively bolster its list to better compete against the AFL heavyweights
“Vossy and the Footy Department were keen to be active in trade week,” Brown said.
“Vossy’s not really that interested in a 3-5 year plan, he wants to win it right now - especially when Luke Power and Blacky are in their 30s and I’m not getting any younger either.”
Brown also provided some insight into how some of his new team-mates are settling into their new surrounds.
“Fev was obviously the big fish the Club landed and he’s going well,” Brown said.
“He’s obviously taken a little bit of time to get used to training in the heat, but he’s trained pretty well and looks in good nick. He said that he’s probably run more this year than he has in the past.”
“He’s really added to the group off the field as well and is a good presence in the locker room for all the younger blokes,” he said.
“Matty Maguire is looking fantastic - you wouldn’t know he’s had a broken leg - Amon Buchanan and Brent Staker are training the house down, Xavier Clarke is still recovering from a knee reconstruction and Andrew Raines is starting to hit his straps as well.”
Brown rejected notions that the addition of these players would unsettle the playing group and playing style.
“Off-field chemistry hasn’t been a problem,” Brown said.
“We all spent some time away together in Noosa for a training camp and bonded really well. We’re a pretty close-knit group because we’re pretty much all interstate kids up here so we rely on each other.”
“The on-field chemistry might be a different thing, but Vossy has been very conscious of going through our game plan and style with the group since November,” he said.
“We’ve spent a lot of time out on the training paddock getting guys used to each other and Vossy’s game style - which is still evolving from his first season.”
“We’ll obviously work on it during the NAB Cup and I’m confident we will get it right.”
“If anything, it has generated a lot of competitiveness among the players at training which can only be a good thing.”
