Lions coach full of praise for Hanley

ALTHOUGH it ended in defeat, Pearce Hanley will have good cause to remember his AFL debut as he departed for home with the praise of Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews ringing loudly in his ears.

Hanley took fellow Irishman Colm Begley’s place for Saturday night’s loss to a Carlton Blues outfit that had to do without the injured Setanta Ó hAilpín and the former Mayo footballer’s pace certainly caught the eye.

“Frankly I think Pearce has got even more speed and power than Colm,” Matthews said. “Compared to any of our players he’s got great speed and a really good ability to carry the footy.

“So that’s one of the qualities that is very hard to find, and it’s what we’re very pleased with.”

The 19-year-old from Ballaghaderreen came to the Lions’ attention after winning the Ron Barassi Medal as Ireland’s best player in the 2006 U17 International Rules series against Australia, and made his senior championship debut for Mayo in last year’s All-Ireland qualifiers, despite still being a minor.

Having joined the Lions just last November as an international rookie, Matthews was struck by his ability to quickly adapt to the oval ball.

“He’s been very impressive. I saw him kick for the first time in November when he turned up from Ireland and he kicked the ball very well straight away, so I thought ‘that’s a tick’,” Matthews revealed.

“We put him into one of the pre-season games down in Melbourne and he did okay, and he’s done extremely well at reserve level... we’ve been very impressed with him.”

“He’s got a bit of size and he’s got some speed and power, and his ball skills are good and he seems to do it well.”

Now that he has been fast-tracked to the Lions’ first-team roster though, Matthews expects him to play a major role as Brisbane look to end their recent poor form.

“It will be one more player who can genuinely carry the footy. He will not get caught from behind,” he said.