![\"Todd](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/5778ef1b6a9233240a9150707147de773f689a09.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBrisbane\u2019s milestone man Darcy Fort believes the more ruckmen the better as the Lions chase off-contract big man Sam Draper.<\/p>\n
Essendon\u2019s Draper, an unrestricted free agent, is expected to move to Queensland next year to bolster the Lions\u2019 ruck stocks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Todd Goldstein wrestles Brisbane\u2019s Darcy Fort in a ruck duel.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Stalwart Oscar McInerney, who was the hard-luck story of Brisbane\u2019s premiership last year, is battling a chronic back injury that is no guarantee to get better.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old has been managed for Saturday night\u2019s blockbuster against Collingwood at the MCG, leaving Fort as the No.1 ruck and youngster Henry Smith to get an opportunity.<\/p>\n
Fort would welcome any new inclusion into Brisbane\u2019s tight-knit ruck community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not too aware of those specifics,\u201d he said on Friday when asked about the possibility of the Lions signing Draper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always a fan of the more ruckmen the better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a big advocate for ruckmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, Essendon coach Brad Scott played down rumours linking Draper with a move to Brisbane, but conceded there are doubts whether the 26-year-old will remain with the Bombers.<\/p>\n
Fort will play his 50th AFL game, seven years after being recruited by Geelong, and 14 years since he was eligible to be drafted.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old famously stepped up to replace McInerney for last year\u2019s grand final when his good mate badly hurt his shoulder in the preliminary final.<\/p>\n
\u201cOscar is the most humble guy in the group,\u201d said Fort, who joined the Lions in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways plays his role, team-first guy, so he set the standard there, and we\u2019re just doing our best to live up to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been a warrior for us, and any opportunity we can get to give him a bit of a rest and get himself right, we\u2019re happy to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fort and Smith – playing just his fifth AFL game – will come up against one of the league\u2019s in-form rucks, Darcy Cameron.<\/p>\n
The midfield battle will set the tone for the blockbuster clash between the No.1 and No.3 teams in front of an expected crowd of more than 70,000.<\/p>\n
Brisbane are coming off their worst loss of the season, battered by Gold Coast last week as Matt Rowell dominated for the Suns.<\/p>\n
Humbled by their Queensland rivals, the Lions know they will have to lift significantly to end a four-game losing run against the Magpies.<\/p>\n
Ladder-leading Collingwood have had the edge over the Lions since their epic grand final in 2023, and comfortably won the encounter at the Gabba earlier this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get touched up you need to bring the fire, and everyone wants to beat us all the time,\u201d Magpies forward Brody Mihocek told AAP.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what our best footy is and we know what Brisbane\u2019s is, so it\u2019s going to be a tough battle, but we\u2019re looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane\u2019s milestone man Darcy Fort believes the more ruckmen the better as the Lions chase off-contract big man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-37111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}