How the determined Brisbane Lions refuse to let complacency creep in as they chase consecutive AFL flags – ‘create the right habits now’
- The Brisbane Lions stars have hit the ground running
- In pre-season block prior to the Christmas holidays
- Chasing another AFL premiership in 2025
Veteran Brisbane defender Ryan Lester has stated the Lions will relish the challenge of being the team everyone wants to beat when they chase back-to-back AFL flags in 2025.
Lester, 32, won the premiership this year, and it was reward for his patience after his debut in 2011.
Chris Fagan’s men celebrated accordingly after the club’s first major final win since 2003, but the pre-season has been anything but complacent.
“It’s a long season and it’s still two to three months away, but we have to do the right things now and create the right habits,” Lester said Wednesday.
‘[Just] Because we achieved the result this year, it is not about taking shortcuts and patting you on the back.
“It’s about doing the right things all the time, and with the culture we’ve built here, which has taken a lot of time to build, we want to maintain that.
Brisbane Lions defender Ryan Lester has stated his team will relish the challenge when it comes to chasing back-to-back AFL flags in 2025
Lester, 32, won a premiership this year, and it was reward for his patience after making his debut in 2011 and making more than 200 appearances for the Lions
“We’re very lucky with the environment we have, so we have to keep investing in it, and that’s what we’ve done.
“We’re just really excited about what’s in store for us in 2025.”
Together, a place in the top four is what the group of players is aiming for next season.
They failed to achieve that goal in 2024, finishing fifth on the AFL ladder, meaning they had to walk the tightrope of sudden death for the entire four-week finals series.
“I feel really driven to finish in the top four, and that’s the feeling I get among all the guys,” Lester added.
“We have always strived to earn respect from the competition, and we have done so slowly.
‘Now we want to be a team that rises to the challenge again and again.’
If the Lions are to win back-to-back premierships, it will be without star player Joe Daniher, who retired after Brisbane’s 60-point grand final win against Sydney at the MCG in September.
To help fill the void left by Daniher, the Lions have recruited key forward Sam Day, who was released after 14 seasons and 155 senior games with the Gold Coast Suns.
“Obviously Big Joe has moved on. I’ll have to thank him if I can find him, I think he went off the grid,” Day said on the radio. official club website.
‘Replacement is an interesting word. I don’t know if we can ever replace Joe. ‘He was a special athlete and very popular within the club.
‘I never knew him personally, but the way the boys talk about him made him such a special man to them.
‘I’m just looking forward to being my own player. Hopefully I can come in and make the rest of the guys around me better.”