Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko is bullish about the club’s father-son combo Will Ashcroft and Jaspa Fletcher, who will join the club following Monday’s draft.
Ashcroft is projected as the top pick this year, while Fletcher is also expected to be taken in the first round.
Zorko said he and his teammates were incredibly impressed with both when they came up for last year’s pre-season.
“Fortunately for us we had the opportunity to have them out here last pre-season and training with us and did close to 75 per cent of our pre-season,” Zorko told SENQ’s Pat and Heals.
“They did the running, all drills that were contact, and they held their own.
“Will looks like he’s going to be an exceptional talent and it probably gets lost a little bit just how talented Jaspa is. Jaspa is going to be a fantastic player for us. His old man was obviously a club legend.
“They’re both athletic, they’re both fit, they’re both ultra-professional. Jaspa had an ankle setback a few months ago and I’ve seen him in the gym and he’s rehabbing that with us really well.
“They’re in good hands. Monday night they’ll, fingers crossed, officially be Brisbane Lions and they’ll rock up ready to go.
“They’ve already got connections with us because they’ve done the majority of a pre-season with us.
“Will got the chance to stay with Hugh (McCluggage) for the majority of his stay last pre-season and Hugh had glowing praise on him and how professional he was and that he took such good care of his body, his diet, and asking what more he could do.
“Hugh was just blown away with the professionalism of this kid at such a young age.
“They’ll be great additions to our team. A lot of youth, excitement and energy on top of getting Josh Dunkley, Jack Gunston, we’ve just signed Conor McKenna. McKenna reminds me a lot of Pearce Hanley.
“So it’s been a good off-season on a recruiting front and it puts us in a nice position ahead of another pre-season.”
Brisbane will be hoping to turn multiple years of top four finishes into a premiership in 2023.