Lehman’s midfield power

By Marc McGowan
RUSSELL Lehman is the son of a former Hawthorn under-19s player and one of the in-form pre-season players in the Gippsland Power squad.
But the 17-year-old Pakenham resident refuses to consider potential Victoria Country or AFL selection and is more interested in the fortunes of his under-18 TAC Cup side.
“I don’t really think about that. I just want to play every game for Power,” Lehman said.
“It would be good, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
“We have a good group of top-age players. I think we have 14 from last year’s preliminary final team.”
The Dandenong Stingrays defeated Gippsland by seven points in a thrilling preliminary final encounter last season and a severe left-ankle injury suffered in the contest compounded Lehman’s pain.
The first-year apprentice plumber was sidelined for two months after the injury and barely bowled for Catani’s A-grade side in the West Gippsland Cricket Association over the summer.
But Lehman, a 176cm on-baller, still managed to slash around 20 seconds off his best 3km time and has been in devastating form in the Power’s two practice matches this year.
Gippsland regional manager Peter Francis expects a big season from the youngster.
“Russell Lehman had a terrific season last year and his practice-match form has been sensational this year,” he said.
“He’s a beautiful left-foot kick, he wins a lot of his own football and is just a magnificent deliverer of the ball – he kills them with his feet. He’s a really good kid.”
Lehman’s football began at Catani, where his father, Jamie, was the reserves coach and also eventually his son’s under-15 mentor.
The former Pakenham Secondary College student has clearly inherited his father’s football talent, but they are vastly different players – Jamie was a full-forward.
Damian Carroll replaces former St Kilda star Austinn Jones as coach of the Power this year and Lehman is enjoying the new voice at the club.
“He’s going to be really good,” Lehman said.
“We’re just going to take things one week at a time – Damian doesn’t talk about finals or look too far ahead.”
Lehman has a quiet confidence about his team’s prospects and is looking forward to mixing it with the top junior footballers in the state for the third straight year.
“It’s good just getting to test yourself against the best players in Victoria and meeting new people from around Gippsland – they’re all good blokes,” he said.