Lions add 18 to list

The Brisbane Lions today selected 18 players at the Inaugural NAB AFL Women’s Draft.

Speaking after the event Brisbane Lions AFL Women’s Team Coach Craig Starcevich said that he was very happy with the outcome of the Draft and the players that the Club was able to pick up.

“(We’re) very happy with how it went, we’ve been planning it for a while,” Starcevich said.

The Lions chose Yeronga South Brisbane WFC midfielder Emily Bates with the number 2 selection.

Bates is a prolific ball winner, Starcevich says has leadership skills beyond her years.

“Bates is one of the few Queenslanders who has played in all five of the exhibition games over the past four years,” he said.

“She’s a very prominent Club player and has been our representative player of the year for the past couple of years.

“She’s going to bring leadership to the table. Even though she’s only 21 now, i think down the track you’ll probably find her as being a leader of the Lions in some capacity in the future.”

Starcevich said that it’s hard to see how this list will compare to other Clubs’ lists until games begin, but said they were able to top the team up in areas they needed to.

“We’ve topped up on areas that we needed to… We obviously marqueed a couple of very good tall key position players and the next trick was to bolster our defence, add to our midfield and make sure we can maximise our chances when we go inside forward 50,” he said.

“We’ve topped up where we needed to from interstate, but a majority of our list is local Queensland talent.”

The team will get together tomorrow night for a social gathering, but will not start training together until November 21st.

The Brisbane Lions will now have two weeks to confirm their three Free Agents.

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NAB AFL Women’s Draft full list