Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\nAnd he still doesn\u2019t seem to be put in the conversation with the likes of Nick Daicos and Sam Darcy as the best young players in the competition. <\/p>\n
Yet Ashcroft remains laser focused on continuing to improve his game to find ways to keep levelling up. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to keep improving and I\u2019m nowhere near where I should be or want to be as a footballer, leader and person at the club. I\u2019m not too concerned about what other people are saying,\u201d Ashcroft told foxfooty.com.au this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more focused on receiving feedback and working with the people close to me at the club, whether it\u2019s coaches, players or mentors. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust want to continue getting better. I\u2019ve got levels to get to as a player \u2014 impacting as a forward, kicking more goals, defensive work, explosiveness \u2014 all these sorts of things I\u2019m continuously working on. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where my focus lies. Not too much around praise or what\u2019s happened in the past, but what I can do to improve and help the team going forward.\u201d <\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 27: Norm Smith medallist, Will Ashcroft of the Lions poses with his premiership medals during the AFL Grand Final match between Geelong Cats and Brisbane Lions at Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 27, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Ashcroft, who previously expressed his disappointment with missing out on Origin, said it\u2019s something he \u201cwould\u2019ve loved to be a part of\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll try and get that over the line for next year and chat to some people. That might be a bit of a challenge,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Brisbane is just a week away from kicking off its quest for a three-peat as it looks to become the third team this century and sixth side in league history to complete a flag hat-trick.<\/p>\n
They might be better placed than ever before with the free agency additions of Sam Draper and Oscar Allen as well draftee Daniel Annable, plus several other stars returning from injury<\/p>\n
Ashcroft said the club is \u201cvery confident\u201d going into the new season in a campaign it\u2019s being widely backed to salute again.<\/p>\n
But he didn\u2019t necessarily feel any added pressure with the extra weight of expectation<\/p>\n
\u201cAt different times, depending on how you\u2019re going, you\u2019re favoured heavily. If we have a couple of losses in a row and other teams start going well, people jump ship pretty quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think focusing on who people are picking in February and that sort of stuff is a big deal to us. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably a bit of a cliche, but controlling the things we can control and continuing to work on our process and evolving our process to set ourselves up for the pointy end of the season year on year is our focus. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you stray away from that and focusing on pressure and external opinions, you\u2019re probably missing the mark a bit. That could let to losses and the season we don\u2019t hope for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been our mindset and it\u2019s really well driven by the coaching staff and leadership group. We\u2019ll keep building on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckley opens up about coaching return | 02:55<\/p>\n
So is there another club Ashcroft is wary of in the flag race?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great teams, it\u2019s hard to say there\u2019s a clear few at the start of the year without playing any games,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a couple of teams who rise up the ladder as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Suns obviously had a great year last year and added players and I think they\u2019ll challenge again. <\/p>\n
\u201cGeelong is always up there, Collingwood is similar. I\u2019m impressed with Sydney and I think they\u2019ll rise back up. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on ourselves and the things need to worry about \u2014 and not worry too much about other clubs \u2014 but there\u2019s some great teams and teams that will only improve.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ashcroft said Lachie Neale\u2019s turbulent off-season, that resulted in the dual Brownlow medallist stepping down as captain as Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage joined Harris Andrews in the role, hadn\u2019t been a distraction on the group.<\/p>\n
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 18: Lachie Neale of the Lions in action during the 2026 AFL match simulation between the Brisbane Lions and the Carlton Blues at Brighton Homes Arena on February 18, 2026 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Russell Freeman\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously that situation has become public and (Neale) and his family are handling that. He understands he\u2019s done the wrong thing and he\u2019s owned that mistake,\u201d Ashcroft said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis pre-season from a football standpoint has been unbelievable. He\u2019s put his head down and got to work and set himself up really well for season 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has adopted that mindset. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe support him and he\u2019s been really good to be around at the club and on the training track and it hasn\u2019t really affected any of the boys. We\u2019re locked in on what we need to focus on as a team.\u201d <\/p>\n
NCA. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. October 3rd, 2025 . Michael Klein 30 years of Grand Final memories.. 2024 Grand Final. Will Ashcroft with his brother Levi celebrate on the MCG fence . Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Of course, Brisbane has another Ashcroft rising up the ranks in Levi as the young gun looks to build off his brilliant first season that saw him win a premiership and finish third in the Rising Star award.<\/p>\n
Will has \u201chigh expectations\u201d for Levi \u201cbut he has higher expectations for himself than anyone else\u201d as the 19-year old\u2019s role \u201chopefully develop and grow\u201d in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be versatile with our group and spend some time on the wing and forward with the personnel we have,\u201d Will said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLevi is very capable of having an impact in those positions, so I\u2019m really excited to see how he goes.\u201d <\/p>\n
Though Will knows his place and hasn\u2019t tried to mentor his little brother <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably more the other side where it\u2019s a bit more banter and fun between him and I,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for him it\u2019s better when the feedback is coming from other people. We punch on a little bit and argue, as brothers do!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably a good thing having other voices that can give him feedback, Josh Dunkley is a great mentor for him. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably doesn\u2019t listen to me as much as he would others \u2014 he likes to crack the s***s with me sometimes. But it\u2019s all fun and games.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Ashcroft is already a two-time premiership player and two-time Norm Smith medallist at the age of 21.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[233553,638,133737,64,63,689,55,639,684,651,3237,3239,19061,3429,145646,253589,253592,253593,13659,2105,12098,25875,3255,253590,218846,647,677,253591,15836,253588,244612,253587,253594,701,6282,12105,11244,203260,85,42949,660,110890,9020],"class_list":{"0":"post-504665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-aami-community-series-live","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-agency-additions","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-football-league","15":"tag-australianfootballleague","16":"tag-ben-cotton","17":"tag-brisbane","18":"tag-brisbane-lions","19":"tag-carlton-blues","20":"tag-coaching-staff","21":"tag-daniel-annable","22":"tag-flag-race","23":"tag-focus-lies","24":"tag-football-standpoint","25":"tag-frightening-warning","26":"tag-geelong-cats","27":"tag-getty-images-inc","28":"tag-josh-dunkley","29":"tag-lachie-neale","30":"tag-leadership-group","31":"tag-lions-season","32":"tag-match-simulation","33":"tag-melbourne","34":"tag-oceania","35":"tag-ominous-warning","36":"tag-oscar-allen","37":"tag-people-jump-ship","38":"tag-pre-season-match-sims","39":"tag-pre-season-media-day","40":"tag-premiership-medals","41":"tag-queensland","42":"tag-russell-freeman","43":"tag-sam-darcy","44":"tag-sam-draper","45":"tag-selection-backflip","46":"tag-sports","47":"tag-two-time-premiership-player","48":"tag-victoria","49":"tag-will-ashcroft","50":"tag-young-gun"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504665","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=504665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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