Luke Power

[Grimreepah]

Link

Good habits power Lions

09 August 2007 Herald Sun
Jon Anderson

LUKE Power, these days an elder statesman of the Brisbane Lions, knows exactly where his side's sudden improvement has come from ¿ the training track.Five successive wins puts Brisbane behind only Geelong as the competition's form side and co-captain Power said preparation was the key.
"It is a very close playing group and one whose training ethics have been right up with any I've played with. They are all about creating good habits on the track," said Power, 27, who now boasts 191-games to his credit.
"The improvement in players like Jared Brennan and Daniel Merrett is due to training and they are realising that you only become respected in this competition when you play well on a consistent basis.
"The Brisbane sides of 5-6 years ago had a number of players who did that but the two groups can't be compared until this one achieves something.
"When those premiership teams trained it was all about rest and recovery so we could keep fresh. This group is about competitive work and miles in the legs."
Power, who is two units from completing a journalism degree, admits the rapid recent rise of the Lions is genuinely exciting.
And he points to Leigh Matthews and his coaching group as key reasons behind their assault on the finals.
"Our backline coach Justin Leppitsch, who has done a lot of work with players such as Daniel Merrett and Jason Roe, doesn't get mentioned as a future coach but he should," Power said.
"He has the personality and confidence for the role.
"Craig Lambert has done a lot of work in development with the younger players, Craig Brittain (reserves and recruiting) is an important person while Shaun Rehn (midfield) and Paul Hudson (forwards) have come up with some really good theories.
"Two years ago our midfield was the worst in the competition in terms of clearances and Shaun has helped change that right around."
Power also nominates Nigel Lappin's return to the midfield as a key ingredient, admitting it had reduced the tagging pressure on Simon Black and himself.
Add Jed Adcock and Michael Rischitelli to the mix and you have a group capable of regularly feeding the competition's best power forward in Jonathan Brown.
"When you look up, `Browny' has a real presence and demands the ball but he has been helped but the emergence of Jared Brennan, the hard leading of Robert Copeland and the work rate of Wayde Mills at centre half-forward.
Power missed three weeks mid-season when he tore the kicking muscle in his quad, prompting a bevy of jokes from teammates that is must be a small muscle given his kicking distance hardly matches that of Anthony Rocca.
However he kicks straight, as Brown would attest.
Power has three years of a contract to fulfil with Brisbane.
"I always wanted to play 200 games and to do it with one club means more. I consider myself to be a loyal person in an age where loyalty doesn't mean as much," said Power, before addressing the question of whether he would remain in Brisbane or return to his native Melbourne.
"I have always said I will return to Melbourne after my career and that remains, although I now have a Queensland girlfriend. But she reckons she likes Melbourne," he said.

Training for success: Brisbane Lions stalwart Luke Power pushes himself to the limit.

[danielcan]

Power has three years of a contract to fulfil with Brisbane.

Does this mean he has three years left on that contract?

[BigCat2]

Originally Posted by danielcanberra

Does this mean he has three years left on that contract?

At the end of 2005 he signed a 5 year contract. So I'd say yeah.

[notliondown]

And trust me Luke if you ever read this... Your loyalty means bloody heaps!!!! Dont ever doubt the collective sigh of releif that went through the supporters as well when you resigned a few years ago!!!!!

[Grimreepah]

Link

Power was reported for charging Sydney's Craig Bolton during Saturday night's game. It was the view of the Panel that Power was running back with the flight of the ball with eyes only for the ball until the last second, while jumping to spoil the mark. Power did not turn and bump Bolton at any stage and it was deemed that contact was unavoidable and not unreasonable in the circumstances. No further action was taken.

[Grimreepah]

End of Season Player Review

Luke Power was this year named one of 5 co-captains to take over from the retiring Michael Voss. It was another consistent year for him, having one or two quiet games, but generally being one of our most productive players week in week out. He averaging 23.8 disposals and 5 tackles a game, and finished 4th in the B&F.

Power is a very good player who has a good all round game. He brings to the side some much needed skills, especially with his short kicking, and he sets the example with his hardness at the ball. At the same time he is probably a step down in class from the elite midfielders in the competition, and because of that tends to not get much recognition. However his importance should not be underestimated, as he is one of a handful of players that the Lions are very reliant upon. When he missed 3 games mid-year with a quad injury, the side had great difficulty covering his absence.

Looking towards 2008, Power will be hoping he can have another consistent and uneventful year. While that may make for a dull player review, it also serves as the ideal foundation to help the younger players develop.

[Grimreepah]

Afl.com judges Luke Power as the best number 5 draft pick of all time:

5 – LUKE POWER (BRISBANE LIONS)
Recruited from: Oakleigh Chargers (1997)
The 195-gamer played in a hat-trick of flags, been All-Australian once and finished in the top-three of the club champion award on three occasions, earning him the gong as the best No.5 pick. There is some outstanding talent coming through, with Lance Franklin (Hawthorn – 2004) leading the charge long-term, followed by Brock McLean (Melbourne – 2004), Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood – 2005) and Travis Boak (Port Adelaide – 2006).

[Grimreepah]

Link

Power pumped over prospects
Article from: Matt Marshall
November 05, 2007 11:00pm

CLASSY midfielder Luke Power senses the bullish "never-say-die" attitude that characterised Brisbane's triple premiership feats in his club's new breed.
Brisbane's full squad completed its first pre-season training session yesterday on the heels of its most successful campaign in three winters.
After just two lean rebuilding years, Leigh Matthews' young squad stood on the cusp of a return to finals football in 2007, and is well placed to continue the resurgence next season.
"After the 2005 and '06 seasons, the year ended in a really negative way, it seemed we dropped our guard a bit," Power said.
"Things weren't going well, but after this year everyone felt the season was a really positive one apart from the last few weeks. The thing was, we played out every game, that's what our supporters came to expect."
Power believes the decisions of Jared Brennan, Josh Drummond, Troy Selwood and Rhan Hooper to knock back offers from rival clubs to remain in Brisbane stand as testament to a rebirth of the once mighty club's proud culture.
"A lot of those guys have been around for three to four years and they haven't been our best years," he said.
"I think they realise now we're improving, we're on the way up, and they want to be a part of it. It's good for them to see it through. Hopefully they can come out the other side."
The recruitment of silky midfielder Travis Johnstone, who completed light work with his wrist still on the mend, is another huge plus, according to Power.

[TheBrownDog]

If some of our younger midfield types take the next step, I wonder if we will ever see Luke return to the forward line on a permenent/semi-permanent basis?

We'd obviously need someone to step up in the midfield as Luke was our king of goal assists last year, but in 2000 he was a deadly small forward and kicked 50 goals... might be the natural place for him to return in coming years?

[Grimreepah]

Originally Posted by TheBrownDog

If some of our younger midfield types take the next step, I wonder if we will ever see Luke return to the forward line on a permenent/semi-permanent basis?

We'd obviously need someone to step up in the midfield as Luke was our king of goal assists last year, but in 2000 he was a deadly small forward and kicked 50 goals... might be the natural place for him to return in coming years?

I can't see that happening in the near future. A good midfielder tends to be more important than a good forward pocket anway, but particularly so for us. We are still finding our way after the loss of Voss and Power's hardness and leadership in the middle is pretty important.

We've possibly seen Adcock overtake him this year, but it would probably take another 2 or 3 of the younger players to do the same for this to become even a consideration. And that will take time as there is a bit of a gap between our A graders and our B graders.

[BigCat2]

Luke's goal sense has also deteriorated in the last few years. When he ends up in the forward line, he no longer swoops on the ball like he used to, and is nowhere near as accurate both in general play and from set shots.

[Grimreepah]

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"Even our older experienced players, such as Luke Power, who is already an elite midfielder, are breaking their 3km time-trial records," Penfold said.

[TheBrownDog]

Top 6 players for goal assists in 2007.

J. Brown BRIS - 44
M. Pavlich FREO - 41
L. Power BRIS - 40
S. Johnson GEEL - 48
C. Mooney GEEL - 37
B. Harvey KANG - 36

[POBT]

Originally Posted by TheBrownDog

Top 6 players for goal assists in 2007.

J. Brown BRIS - 44
M. Pavlich FREO - 41
L. Power BRIS - 40
S. Johnson GEEL - 48
C. Mooney GEEL - 37
B. Harvey KANG - 36

A good reason why he should spend more time in the front half than the back half. Just a smart footballer with plenty of vision.

[TwoBlueEyes]

Originally Posted by POBT

A good reason why he should spend more time in the front half than the back half. Just a smart footballer with plenty of vision.

Totally agree....would kick a minimum 40 goals this season playing every game at hf or f

His #1 ranked assist in 2007 would have to be the one against the Swans after Black found him in traffic on the boundary line and he then in turn found Brown......the rest is