Brisbane chief executive Greg Swann has confirmed that Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge is set to join the Lions on a two-year deal.
Hodge announced his retirement at the end of the season, but will head north to re-unite with Brisbane coach Chris Fagan.
Swann told SEN’s Hungry For Sport that the Lions playing group will benefit greatly from Hodge’s on-field leadership and experience.
“He’s such a competitor, Hodgey. He loves the idea of playing and that’s terrific for us as well, but from our point of view, we see him as a fantastic on-field coach,” he said.
“We don’t expect him to play every week – we’ll look after him in that sphere.
“Our playing group – Dayne Beams as the captain – they’re just over the moon that he’s coming.
“From the club’s point of view, it’s just a great get for us because he’s an icon of the game, he’s got a terrific footy brain, he’s a super competitor and I just think for the young blokes that are going to be playing with him, they’ll walk a lot taller.”
Swann said that hearing Hodge when he was mic’d up on Channel 7 late in the season was the point that the Lions realized they needed a player of his ilk and the wheels were set in motion to see if he would have a change of heart.
“When he announced that he was going to retire, Chris thought that he didn’t really want to retire because he just loves the battle – he loves playing,” he said.
“So we kept chipping away at him and after a bit of a break he decided that he thought he did have a bit left and fortunately for us, he chose us to come and play with.”