‘Nowhere near where I want to be’: Lions star’s ominous warning to rest of AFL ahead of quest for three-peat

Will Ashcroft is already a two-time premiership player and two-time Norm Smith medallist at the age of 21.

But the young Lions superstar says he’s “nowhere near” the player he wants to be in a frightening warning to the rest of the AFL.

Despite Ashcroft’s heroics over the last two seasons, he was ruled ineligible to play for Victoria in State of Origin following a selection backflip.

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And he still doesn’t seem to be put in the same conversation as the likes of Nick Daicos and Sam Darcy as the best young players in the competition.

Yet Ashcroft isn’t concerned by external narratives and remains laser focused on continuing to improve his game to find ways to keep levelling up.

“I want to keep improving and I’m nowhere near where I should be or want to be as a footballer, leader and person at the club. I’m not too concerned about what other people are saying,” Ashcroft told foxfooty.com.au this week.

“I’m more focused on receiving feedback and working with the people close to me at the club, whether it’s coaches, players or mentors.

“Just want to continue getting better. I’ve got levels to get to as a player — impacting as a forward, kicking more goals, defensive work, explosiveness — all these sorts of things I’m continuously working on.

“That’s where my focus lies. Not too much around praise or what’s happened in the past, but what I can do to improve and help the team going forward.”

Ashcroft, who previously expressed his disappointment with missing out on Origin, said it’s something he “would’ve loved to be a part of”.

“We’ll try and get that over the line for next year and chat to some people. That might be a bit of a challenge,” he added.

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.

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.

Ashcroft said the club is “very confident” going into the new season in a campaign it’s being widely backed to salute again.

But he doesn’t necessarily feel any added pressure with the extra weight of expectation

“At different times, depending on how you’re going, you’re favoured heavily. If we have a couple of losses in a row and other teams start going well, people jump ship pretty quickly,” Ashcroft said.

“I don’t think focusing on who people are picking in February and that sort of stuff is a big deal to us.

“It’s 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.

“If you stray away from that and focusing on pressure and external opinions, you’re probably missing the mark a bit. That could let to losses and the season we don’t hope for.

“That’s been our mindset and it’s really well driven by the coaching staff and leadership group. We’ll keep building on that.”

So is there another club Ashcroft is wary of in the flag race?

“There’s a lot of great teams, it’s hard to say there’s a clear few at the start of the year without playing any games,” he said.

“There’s always a couple of teams who rise up the ladder as well.

“The Suns obviously had a great year last year and added players and I think they’ll challenge again.

“Geelong is always up there, Collingwood is similar. I’m impressed with Sydney and I think they’ll rise back up.

“We’re focusing on ourselves and the things need to worry about — and not worry too much about other clubs — but there’s some great teams and teams that will only improve.”

Meanwhile, Ashcroft said Lachie Neale’s turbulent off-season, that resulted in the dual Brownlow medallist stepping down as captain as Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage were promoted to join Harris Andrews in the shared role, hadn’t been a distraction on the group.

“Obviously that situation has become public and (Neale) and his family are handling that. He understands he’s done the wrong thing and he’s owned that mistake,” Ashcroft said.

“His pre-season from a football standpoint has been unbelievable. He’s put his head down and got to work and set himself up really well for season 2026.

“Everyone has adopted that mindset.

“We support him and he’s been really good to be around at the club and on the training track and it hasn’t really affected any of the boys. We’re locked in on what we need to focus on as a team.”

Of course, Brisbane has another Ashcroft rising up the ranks in younger brother Levi as the fellow son of a gun looks to build off his brilliant first season that saw him win a premiership and finish third in the Rising Star award.

Will has “high expectations” for Levi “but he has higher expectations for himself than anyone else” as the 19-year old’s role will “hopefully develop and grow” in 2026.

“You have to be versatile with our group and spend some time on the wing and forward with the personnel we have,” Will said.

“Levi is very capable of having an impact in those positions, so I’m really excited to see how he goes.”

Though Will very much knows his place and hasn’t tried to mentor his little brother.

“I’m probably more the other side where it’s a bit more banter and fun between him and I,” he said.

“I think for him it’s better when the feedback is coming from other people. We punch on a little bit and argue, as brothers do!

“It’s probably a good thing having other voices that can give him feedback, Josh Dunkley is a great mentor for him.

“He probably doesn’t listen to me as much as he would others — he likes to crack the s***s with me sometimes. But it’s all fun and games.”