The side that North will face on Saturday is ripe with young talent, much of which arrived at the club in the 2013 National Draft.
Six draftees (plus an academy player) joined the Lions last season, led by James Aish at pick 7. The famous South Australian surname is thriving in a different state – he was the AFL Rising Star Nominee in Round 6.
All up, five of the six draftees have already tasted senior action. In Lewis Taylor (pick 28), Brisbane collected a youngster who has been compared with one of North’s best.
Elsewhere, the Lions’ leaders have continued to provide a strong example in trying times. Jonathan Brown recently celebrated his 250th game against Richmond and has kicked 14 goals in seven games this season.
The former captain is rapidly closing in on 600 career goals and will end the season inside the top 30 on the all-time goal kicking leaderboard.
Brown recently passed the mantle of club captaincy over to Jed Adcock, ending the co-captain arrangement of 2013. With 171 games to his name, the latter has spent more than a decade at Brisbane and was the consensus choice for captaincy.
Former team-mate Josh Drummond knows more than most about the importance of Adcock to Brisbane.
Meanwhile in the midfield, Tom Rockliff has blossomed into arguably Brisbane’s most important player. Able to play both inside and outside, the sixth-year player is averaging a career-high 28.3 disposals a game in 2014.
He is also a legitimate goal-scoring option, as his time forward in his career has allowed Rockliff to add to his bag of tricks. His ability to persevere through tough times was illustrated perfectly in Round 7 against Sydney.
