‘AFL’s hard’: Lions star’s frank admission

Lions star Cam Rayner says unless he can rectify the mistakes he’s making as a half-forward, there’s little point arguing that he deserves more time in Brisbane’s midfield.

Rayner’s consistency has been questioned during Brisbane’s poor start to the AFL season.

A standout last month in the Lions’ 22-point win over Melbourne, the top pick in the 2018 AFL draft has been otherwise down on form ahead of Brisbane’s battle with the Gold Coast Suns at the Gabba on Sunday night.

The Lions have responded to last week’s 54-point loss to the GWS Giants by naming 23-year-old-midfielder Bruce Reville to make his AFL debut against the Suns.

“AFL’s hard,” Rayner said on Thursday before a Lions training session from which Joe Daniher was absent following the birth of his second child.

“It’s hard to find that consistency, but the thing I want to focus on is being a trademark player and doing the things I can do consistently without the ball.

“That’s probably the thing that’s let me down in the last couple of weeks, so I want to make sure I can tidy that up.”

And until he does, Rayner knows he can’t demand to spend more time in a Lions midfield that already includes the likes of dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale and premiership winner Josh Dunkley.

“I lot of the stuff that I haven’t been consistent at has been when I’ve been at half-forward. That’s the stuff that needs to tidy up first before I worry about going in (the midfield),” he said.

“My main role is to have impact in the game and to help my teammates, (and) I feel like I can do that in that (midfield) position, but the things that I haven’t been as happy with are probably with what I’ve been doing forward, so I need to make sure I tidy that up, and we get a great opportunity to do that on the weekend.

“We’ve been known as a good solid team for a long time. We probably haven’t been producing the standards that we’re used to, so it’s very clear that we need to get back to those standards.

“That’s our main focus going forward – doing things that are going to make each other better.”

Having lost five from seven this season, the Lions can ill afford to lose on Sunday if they still have ambitions of finishing in the top four.

However, Rayner was adamant his side wasn’t focused on ladder positions.

“We’ve got a really tight-knit group, and it can get a little bit out of hand if you look at the ladder during the season,” he said.

“We try not to do it when we’re doing really well. Obviously, we haven’t started the way we want to this year, but we haven’t done that (looked at the table) either.

“We just need to focus on each week. If we think about next week or the next upcoming weeks, we’re going to lose focus on what’s at hand on the weekend, so that’s we’re worried about at the moment.”

Papua New Guinea-born Reville, a Lions academy graduate, said he was “over the moon” about his selection.

“It’s quite emotional really,” he said.

“A lot has happened for me to get to this point, from working multiple jobs and making a lot of sacrifices … to try and pursue an AFL career.”