{"id":499520,"date":"2026-02-23T20:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499520\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:38:22","slug":"ex-west-coast-eagle-oscar-allen-is-flying-after-big-summer-and-will-command-best-defender-as-a-brisbane-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499520\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-West Coast Eagle Oscar Allen is flying after big summer and will command best defender as a Brisbane Lion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane captain Harris Andrews has declared former West Coast captain Oscar Allen is \u201cflying\u201d since joining the Lions and will command the best defender every week while looming as a boom recruit for the reigning premiers.<\/p>\n

Allen joined the Lions as a free agent this season after battling injuries at West Coast for the past two seasons. But having been directly opposed to Allen when he was an Eagle, Andrews said he\u2019d noticed a clear difference to how he is now moving and performing during training.<\/p>\n

Logan Morris became the number one forward at Brisbane last season following Joe Daniher\u2019s retirement, kicking 53 goals. But Eric Hipwood\u2019s knee reconstruction on the eve of the finals would have placed a huge focus on the 191cm Morris during 2026.<\/p>\n

Andrews said it is clear Allen will take demand the opposition\u2019s best forward every week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think so. He\u2019s going to be a great addition for us,\u201d Andrews told The West Australian at the AFL\u2019s Captains Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really bought into uniting our forward line with his leadership down there. his past experiences have allowed him to have an influence. We are excited to have him.<\/p>\n

\"OscarCamera IconOscar Allen in action for the Lions. Credit: Russell Freeman\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going well. He\u2019s flying. He\u2019s settled in really well. From a performance perspective, he is taking big marks, kicking goals and putting a lot of pressure on around the ball. From a leadership perspective, he\u2019s just been added to our leadership group. It\u2019s a great reflection of the impact he\u2019s had.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Joey left it was sort of panic stations for everyone externally but Loges did a great job playing as a key forward last year. He\u2019s probably a bit on the shorter side than some of the other guys. He did a great job last year. I think the introduction of Oscar into the team is going to make life a lot easier for some of those other guys like Loges and Ty Gallop, and Hippy when he comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen recently spoke of his disappointment about the way his free agency discussions were handled by the Eagles when they became public. He also opened up about injuring his knee in round one and attempting to play through pain all season.<\/p>\n

Andrews said the club\u2019s medical staff had done a great job to help Allen with his recovery and ease him into training with the Lions.<\/p>\n

\"OscarCamera IconOscar Allen has battled injury for several years. Credit: Paul Kane\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

While a concussion against Carlton last week was a setback for the key forward, Andrews said he the way Allen was running and jumping was a clear sign that his athleticism is back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s definitely moving well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had his fair share of injuries over the last couple of years but he\u2019s come back to the club fit. Early days when we started pre-season, they monitored him a bit and really adjusted his training to get him going.<\/p>\n

\u201cPost-Christmas he has locked in and trained hard. It\u2019s been great playing on him. It\u2019s always a challenge stepping up against him because he\u2019s super physical in the contest. I\u2019m glad now I don\u2019t have to play on him at AFL level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane captain Harris Andrews has declared former West Coast captain Oscar Allen is \u201cflying\u201d since joining the Lions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,3237,588,85,7067],"class_list":["post-499520","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-brisbane-lions","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-west-coast-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499520","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=499520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}