Jonathan Brown praises Brisbane’s trade period after securing Luke Hodge, Charlie Cameron

BRISBANE great Jonathan Brown has praised the club’s trade week haul saying they had created a similar platform to the Lions side he joined as a draftee.

BRISBANE great Jonathan Brown has praised the club’s trade week haul saying they had created a similar platform to the Lions side he joined as a draftee.

The Lions managed to protect their draft position while also securing priority target Charlie Cameron.

In the frantic final hour of the trade period they cut deals to bring Luke Hodge to the Gabba and send Josh Schache to the Western Bulldogs.

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“They’ve had a terrific week,’’ Brown said.

“I don’t think two years ago you would have seen a premiership legend and one of the greatest players in the game basically come out of retirement to play for the Lions.

“And for another guy who is a star and from a club right in their premiership window to also want to come, I think that is a good indication of where the club is.’’

Luke Hodge was traded for pick No.76. Picture: Michael Klein

Charlie Cameron comes to Brisbane in exchange for pick No.12.

Hodge cost the Lions pick No.76 while they received picks No.25 and 40 for former No.2 draft pick Schache who had asked to return to Victoria to be closer to family.

A late deal with Richmond saw them offload picks No.20 and 25 in exchange for picks No.15 and 52, to offset the loss of No.12, which went to the Crows for Cameron.

The Lions also lost former skipper Tom Rockliff to free agency in the opening week of the trade period, gaining No.18 as compensation.

Brisbane won the wooden spoon in 1998 and claimed the first of their historic three-peat of premierships in 2001.

Between 1997 and 2000 they drafted premiership players Luke Power, Simon Black, Des Headland, Beau McDonald and Brown and mature-age players Martin Pike, Brad Scott and Mal Michael.

Brown sees history repeating.

(From left) Tim Notting, Jonathan Brown, Robert Copeland and Jason Akermanis celebrate Brisbane’s 2001 premiership.

They now hold picks No.1, 15 and 18 in the draft.

Last year they netted Hugh McCluggage, Jarrod Berry, Alex Witherden and Cedric Cox to follow the inclusions of Eric Hipwood, Harris Andrews and Dan McStay in recent years.

“The three dynasties the competition has had in the AFL era, Brisbane, Geelong and Hawthorn were built through the draft,’’ he said.

“It is the only proven recipe and Brisbane have made the right move, but it takes patience.’’

Brown said if the draft was a key focus, it made sense to bring in older heads to ensure the list was not too young.

“You can create culture off field, but it is another skill to create on-field culture which is learning how to talk to each other, how to play for each other,’’ he said.

“And you can’t learn it in a classroom or from your coaches, you can only learn it on the field in the heat of battle from your leaders. I had no idea about it until I learnt it off Michael Voss and Justin Leppitsch.

“That’s the next phase for Brisbane and that’s Hodgey’s great value.’’

Originally published as Jonathan Brown praises Brisbane’s trade period after securing Luke Hodge, Charlie Cameron