Lions defender Ryan Lester talks career revival, Harris Andrews’ influence
Ryan Lester is an institution at Brisbane, but for a player who thought his career would end in 2023, the veteran has continued to stake his claim as one of the AFL’s most reliable defenders.
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Ryan Lester has worn many hats in his 14 seasons in the AFL.
As the longest-serving player on Brisbane’s list following the retirement of Daniel Rich last season, the 31-year-old has become an institution at the Lions.
In a team stacked with stars and a league that throws the term around like it’s going out of fashion, Lester has never heard himself referred to as such.
Clubman. Leader. Journeyman. Fan-favourite – and the best of them all, “Froggy”.
Save for a select few super fans, he has never been called a star.
Where he might land in the pantheon of platitudes ultimately means little to Lester. But as the reliable defender continues a career-best campaign, he could be edging ever closer to that elusive label.
His is one of the most unique stories in footy. A player who has survived multiple list culls when more than once he – and many others – thought his time could be up.
Dropped 17 times in his first 13 AFL seasons, Lester has lived six of the past seven years playing under the pressure of one-year contracts. At this point it is as habitual as a morning cup of coffee.
“One thing I find people get fascinated about is the one-year contracts and dealing with that pressure, but I’ve never really thought of it that way,” Lester told this masthead.
“It’s never really concerned me.
“It’s something I’m actually quite proud of, the way my career has panned out and the way I’ve hung in there long enough to be able to play some good footy towards the back end of my career.”
As far back as the 2020 season, Lester has been mentally preparing himself for his AFL retirement. By his own admission, being a quality clubman could have been the reason he hung on for so long.
But that all changed last season.
As he had for the previous three years, Lester was ready for 2023 to be his last. Delisted and brought back via the rookie draft at the end of 2022, he was made VFL captain. The veteran anticipated he would play out the year in the twos and call it quits.
Instead, he was thrust back into the AFL side after an injury to Darcy Gardiner and would go on to play 19 games in 2023, including the grand final.
“I was probably only expecting to play a couple of weeks,” Lester recalled.
“My philosophy was genuinely to play this game like it’s the last time I go out on an AFL field. I didn’t want to finish my career thinking ‘jeez, I worried too much and so I didn’t become the player I should have been’.
“I’ve just been trying to do that this year as well. I’m not trying to project forward to playing every game for the year or getting a new contract or whatever it is. I’m just genuinely playing each game like it could be my last.
“A lot of my friends are players that have come and gone from the club and they talk about how hard the transition (into retirement) is and I accept it’s going to be hard one day, so the more I can do to make it easier the better.
“To be honest that takes the pressure off football a little bit because I’m not too daunted. If it finishes, it finishes. That’s probably my attitude towards it.”
That mentality has unlocked a level of play that eclipses anything Lester produced in his previous 13 seasons.
His 2023 campaign was undoubtedly the best of his career and 2024 is shaping up as even better.
“I feel like I’m playing as well as I ever have. I just want to keep that going for as long as I can,” he said.
“I know in the past I’ve played a few good patches of footy and then maybe gone quiet for a few weeks – that’s when I’ve found myself in and out of the team. So I just want to keep it going hopefully for the rest of the season.”
With a swath of backline injuries, the Lions have had to lean on Lester more than ever this season.
They entered the 2023 finals series with the most consistent back six of any in the AFL, with their starters missing just six games combined through injury during the home and away season.
That has been flipped on its head in 2024.
Lester is one of just three Brisbane defenders to have played in all nine games so far – excluding Dayne Zorko, who started the year as a forward before being moved back out of necessity.
“To be honest I haven’t felt it too much,” Lester said of the upheaval.
“I think of the guys who have come in like Noah Answerth, who hasn’t played for a couple of years but has been around the club for 5-6 years so you know what you’re going to get from him.
“Zorks hasn’t been down there but obviously this year has been a mainstay there and clearly knows the game well and we’ve played a lot of footy together.
“So yes, whilst there has been some movement in and out I don’t’ think I’ve felt the unstableness too much.
“I think Harris (Andrews) has played a big part in that.
“He’s clearly our leader down there (in defence) and I think he’s been playing some amazing footy this year. His contested and intercept marking I feel has gone to another level and he brings a lot of stability just from him being there and we probably all feed off that.”
Brisbane’s skipper has again been one of the Lions’ best and most consistent players over the course of this season, off the back of a maiden club best and fairest in 2023.
On the field he has been a beacon of strength for the Lions and perhaps even more so off of it.
Asked to front-up and answer the tough questions in the face of the US off-season trip saga that did not even involve him, he was a rock at a time the club needed him most.
When Andrews was one of the few Lions who could hold their heads up high after the humbling at the hands of the Giants on Anzac Day, he again was the man who took the punches and set the agenda for the thrashing of the Suns the following week.
“The reason why he’s a good leader is because he cares so much,” Lester said.
“He really cares for the club and knows that we’re close to a premiership. He doesn’t want to let that go. He really wants to be a premiership player and for us to become a premiership club.
“I think he just knows the person he is and what he brings to the table as a leader.
“When difficult conversations come up or something arises that needs fronting up to, he’s the first person to put his hand up. It’s something that makes a good leader.
“I think Harris has taken that to another level this year which has been awesome.”
As for Lester, his stellar season has been built on a renewed attacking mindset borne a little out of necessity but more from a desire to do more than his role requires.
“I focus a lot now on reacting really quickly,” he said.
“For instance if Harris takes a mark I’ll try to react quickly and spread offensively and use that as a bit of a weapon.
“In the past a good game for me might have been 12-15 touches, I shut my man out of the game, but I really won’t do a lot else. Now I feel like a good game for me is maybe 15-20 touches and if I see an opportunity to impact the ball I’ll just do it. I don’t second guess myself.”
Saturday’s clash with Richmond at the Gabba will mark Lester’s 190th AFL appearance. All going well, he will reach the 200-game milestone later this season.
It’s a number that few, even Lester, thought would be possible only a handful of years ago.
But with each passing week, the veteran is fast changing the narrative of his career.
“Hopefully I can be remembered more as a good player than just a good player to have around the club.”
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