Brisbane Lions players visit lucky high school AFL teams from Churchie and Brisbane SHS
It’s not often that budding AFL players are put through their paces by the likes of Simon Black or Jonathon Brown, but for two high school teams this became a reality last week.
The Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) Year 8 team were invited to visit the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba for a guided tour and training session.
The session started with the team being introduced to Lions coach Michael Voss where he spoke about his time playing AFL in high school and his progression as a professional footballer.
From here, the boys spent a day in the life of a Brisbane Lions player with Jonathon Brown and Joel Patfull running them through their training schedule and pre match routines.
Brown and Patfull took the players on a tour of the Lions’ training facility including the gym, dressing room and warm-up room.
After trying their hand at several drills the Lions use before a match, the boys were able to hit the ground for a kick-to-kick with Patfull and Browny.
Meanwhile over at Brisbane State High, The Year 10 AFL training session had some surprise guests in the form of Lions legend Simon Black and budding forward Aaron Cornelius.
Black ran the boys through some midfield drills, whilst Cornelius had them practicing shots on goal under pressure.
It was a perfect warm up for State High’s top-of-the-table clash with St Joseph’s Nudgee College in the Year 10 GPS Schools’ division of the AFL SportsReady Queensland Independent Schools Cup competition.
The session was capped off with a ten minute question and answer session with the players where Black and Cornelius were able to pass on further advice and tips.
Both schools, along with Brisbane Boys’ College and Nudgee, are currently competing in the inaugural GPS Schools’ Division of the competition.
The season will culminate in a huge night of football with Grand Finals of each division to be held at Yeronga AFC on May 25.
