The Swan Districts product approached his second AFL season determined to play his first senior match - but even Banfield couldn’t possibly have predicted the level of impact he would ultimately have on the side.
An incredibly productive pre-season campaign saw him shoot up the senior ranks and Senior Coach Michael Voss took notice and promptly selected him for the season opener against West Coast at the Gabba.
He never looked back, playing all 22 senior matches in 2010 and booting 27 goals which was the third most at the Club.
Banfield also received a nomination for the AFL Rising Star award and was honoured post-season with selection in Australia’s International Rules team which defeated the Irish over in Ireland.
The 20 year-old was one of the more consistent contributors to the Australian side and gained valuable experience playing alongside some of the competition’s best.
“The International Rules Series gave me a great chance to meet a lot of players and coaches from other clubs and gain a bit of insight into how they go about their football,” Banfield said.
“I think it has certainly helped me and has driven me to become a bit more of a leader around the Club.”
Despite having only played his first senior AFL game less than 12 months ago, remarkably Banfield has now played more matches than almost half of the Lions’ list.
He is also living proof for his more inexperienced team-mates on how important the NAB Cup pre-season games can be in forcing your way into the senior side.
But the Lions livewire is not taking last year’s form for granted and continues to work hard on the training track to prove himself worthy of senior selection in Round 1 against Fremantle at the Gabba.
“Hopefully I can play as many games as possible during the pre-season, keep my spot in the side for Round 1 and build from there,” he said.
Banfield has been spending considerable time with the Club’s new Assistant Coaches - Shane Woewodin and Gary O’Donnell - during the pre-season to work on the parts of his game that he felt needed improvement.
“I have been working on improving my endurance and touch work with Woey and a lot of my goal-kicking practice has been with Gary,” he said.
“They have been fantastic additions to the coaching staff and I have definitely tried to best utilise their obvious talents.”
“Everyone at the Club is striving for greater on-field success than last year and there is a real sense of excitement among the playing group.”
