AFL round 8: Will Ashcroft reflects on the importance of QClash against Gold Coast

Will and Levi Ashcroft were on track to be Gold Coast Suns players before one call changed their football careers. Now, they are preparing to play their first QClash together as Lions.

Few games hold as much meaning to Brisbane midfielder Will Ashcroft as the biannual QClash between the Lions and Gold Coast Suns.

Sunday’s 28th meeting between the two Queensland clubs looms as the biggest in the rivalry’s history, with both sides sitting inside the top four having lost just two games between them.

And the significance of the moment is not lost on Ashcroft, whose name is synonymous with the QClash through father Marcus, who won three premierships at the Lions and held various coaching roles at the Suns for a decade.

“Personally it’s big for me,” Ashcroft said on Tuesday of the Queensland derby.

“My family; I’ve grown up on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane now. There’s a lot of connection there with dad working at the Suns for a long time and playing here (at the Lions). It’s a big game.

“To have my brother (Levi Ashcroft) on board this year as well to play in our first QClash together is exciting.

“So, I guess it adds a little bit of emotion to it from our end, but (we will) prepare and get ready as if it’s another game and perform at our best.”

Ashcroft, 20, is one of the most exciting young players in the competition and with just 38 games under his belt has already added a premiership and Norm Smith Medal to his mantelpiece.

The Ashcroft brothers could have been Suns if their family didn’t move to Melbourne.

Brownlow Medal aside, the next key piece of silverware he would love to own is the Marcus Ashcroft Medal – named in honour of his father and awarded to the player judged best on ground in the QClash.

“It’s not something I think about too much, but I think the proposition of actually winning it would be pretty cool,” Ashcroft said.

“It’s something I would reflect on and think is a pretty cool moment for me and my family. I think (brother and teammate) Levi would be thinking the same.”

In a different timeline Ashcroft might have been pulling on Suns colours this weekend.

He grew up on the Gold Coast and spent much of his youth at the Suns’ Carrara headquarters, with his father serving first as an assistant coach and later as general manager of football.

Had the family not moved to Melbourne, he and his brother might have continued their development within the Suns Academy.

Will Ashcroft celebrates a goal.

Levi Ashcroft will play in his first QClash.

Instead they each joined the Lions as father-son selections — Will in 2022 and Levi in 2024 — and loom as key thorns in the Suns’ side for the next decade or more.

“(Gold Coast) has had a great start to the year,” Ashcroft said.

“It’s great for Queensland football, that’s the main thing that comes to my mind when I think about this weekend. The promotion of Queensland football and just how far it’s come at the top level and the junior level as well.

“It’s really exciting for both the Lions and Suns, and Queensland football as a whole.

“They’re a very deep group, have a lot of young guys that have come through their academy and a lot of players performing at a really high level at the moment.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge and we’re going to be ready for it.”