Ryan Lester played through some dark years for Brisbane where they lacked personnel in defence with Jack Payne and Tom Doedee missing for long periods, where he lined up on forwards much taller than him, and sometimes got exploited. His yeoman's work was rewarded when the club turned its fortunes around to win the last two flags. At this stage of his career he is an elder statesman, and rejoins the senior team as still part of its best 23, with Payne still on the LTI list, Darcy Gardiner injured and Doedee languishing at VFL level. Today's opponent holds no fears for him.
Ryan Lester played through some dark years for Brisbane where they lacked personnel in defence with Jack Payne and Tom Doedee missing for long periods, where he lined up on forwards much taller than him, and sometimes got exploited. His yeoman's work was rewarded when the club turned its fortunes around to win the last two flags. At this stage of his career he is an elder statesman, and rejoins the senior team as still part of its best 23, with Payne still on the LTI list, Darcy Gardiner injured and Doedee languishing at VFL level. Today's opponent holds no fears for him.
Ryan Lester is one of a half dozen Lions to be brought in from the VFL side this week to replace best 22 players due to COVID exposure. He used be a fringe utility who got a lot of games for Brisbane when they were suffering injuries, but he has plied his trade at the lower level during the club's recent good run. Today he has to step up once again to be an undersized key defender, flying against beanpoles of 200cm or more, the kind of contest he usually halves at worst. He is a solid roleplayer, and will be useful for the team today without being flashy.
Best of Lester past
A regular in the senior side over the previous three campaigns, Ryan Lester struggled to convince coach Chris Fagan in 2019. The half back negator split his time between NEAFL and AFL, dropping his disposal rate by four in the seniors. He has averaged more than 18 disposals just once in nine seasons. The retirement of Luke Hodge may pave a return, depending on Grant Birchall's availability. Lester requires both a surge in form and injury luck to fall his way if he's to continue plying his trade down back for the resurgent Lions. Look elsewhere for your fantasy squad.
Lester we forget
As usual, Ryan Lester was kept busy plugging holes in the Lions dyke all of last season. His role shifted more from attack to defence as the year wore on, but at neither end could he string together startable scores. Chris Fagan said in 2017 that Lester was Brisbane's most important player. If that is true, it's only because the team has been so historically mediocre, as he has always been a B-grader at best. Avoid.
Can do better than Lester
It is a measure of the decimation of the Brisbane list by injury and form that spare parts man Ryan Lester has played 41 of their past 44 home & away matches, including every one last season. He has nominally been starting as a forward albeit over 60% of his possessions came in the back half last year, denoting a greater need in their defence. If you look at Lester's average, he appears to be more than startable. Delve down into his scores, and you will notice that one in three of his games feature numbers below the baseline for his position. This puts his value in draft leagues so low that he really should only be left as a free agent, because you don't want that sort of inconsistency on your list.
