Justin Clarke (Booleroo Melrose Wilmington), Scott Clarke (Western Magpies), Sam Michael (Redland) and Steven Wrigley (Labrador) will all be hoping to impress the Lions coaches and recruiters in a bid to find their way onto the Club’s 2012 Rookie List.
Justin Clarke is the only non-Queenslander among the new ‘trainees’, hailing from the country town of Booleroo which is located three hours north of Adelaide.
A 195cm key position prospect, he was enticed to play one game with North Adelaide’s Reserves in the SANFL, but preferred to play out the rest of the season with his local side and remain close to the family’s cropping farm. Clarke went on to be named centre half-back in the Northern Areas Football Association’s Team of the Year.
Scott Clarke would be a familiar face for some Lions fans, considering he was a regular top-up player with the Lions Reserves throughout the 2011 NEAFL season.
The Western Magpies big man filled key posts up forward, in defence and occasionally even pinch-hitted in the ruck when required. He also proved a viable forward option, booting three goals in a quarter against the Sydney Swans Reserves back in June.
19 year-old Sam Michael is a former AIS-AFL Academy Squad member who has represented Queensland at the U18 Championships.
At 196cm, he presents another potential key position prospect, but says he enjoys playing the mobile-type ruck role that Collingwood’s Leigh Brown made popular in 2010.
Michael was a member of Redland’s 2011 Reserves premiership side, but also gained some valuable senior NEAFL experience - earning a Rising Star nomination for his efforts in Round 19 against Mt Gravatt.
Finally, Steven Wrigley joins the Lions’ training squad after taking out Labrador’s Best & Fairest award in 2011.
The defender - who moved from Victoria to Queensland at the end of 2009 - also earned a place in the NEAFL Team of the Year for the second consecutive season.
If successful, he will become the third former Labrador player on the Lions’ 2012 playing list alongside Claye Beams and Bryce Retzlaff.
The Lions will finalise their entire 2012 playing list next Tuesday at the 2011 AFL Rookie Draft.
