Former Lions star Alastair Lynch has named his four premiership favourites heading into the 2020 AFL season.
The race for the flag looks as close as ever before, with Richmond and West Coast widely seen as the frontrunners.
Lynch thinks both the Tigers and Eagles deserve their tags as favourites, also tipping the Giants and his former club Brisbane to be right up there.
“I’d be going West Coast, GWS Giants, Richmond and Brisbane to be in the final four and whoever’s got their list right at the time is going to win it,” Lynch told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
Despite bowing out of finals in straight sets last year, Lynch is confident Chris Fagan's side will improve in 2020.
“I would have thought with the tougher draw, they’ve had a great run with injuries, initially I would have thought maybe they are going to be in that bracket, which is going to be deep bracket, of 4th-9th,” he said.
“But after seeing them firsthand a couple of times over the last few weeks, their young guys are starting to really look like high-class, mature bodies, mature footballers.
“Their deficiency has been contested ball, so they put in Cameron Ellis-Yolmen – a huge-bodied midfielder. Down back their only issue is someone that can run and carry the ball, so Callum Ah Chee slots in there. And I think just a bit of maturity with Grant Birchall being able to kick the ball off half-back.
“I think Brisbane need to be deep in calculations when you’re talking about flag favourites.”
