A RICHMOND supporter initially in West Coast’s zone, but now a Fremantle Next Generation Academy (NGA) member who idolises Nat Fyfe. That’s the unique journey Lake Grace native Lucas Robinson hopes to take to the top as he embarks on his top-age season in 2026.

The midfielder helped Hale School take out the Alcock Cup last year, and having graduated, will also look to take the South Fremantle Colts one step further. Now standing at 191cm, Robinson has spent part of preseason training with the Dockers and will be out to expand his versatility this season.

We sat down for an interview with Robinson at WA’s preseason testing combine in Perth on Sunday.

>> AFL Draft | State in Focus: Western Australia

Q&A

Q: Lucas, can you walk me through your footballing journey so far?

LR: I started off with my juniors at Lake Grace Bombers. I’m originally from the country, between Perth and Esperance, probably about 350kms southeast of Perth. So I grew up there, played all my juniors there until about Year 6, then made the move up to boarding school when I was 11-years-old.

Went to Hale School and started off playing rugby for my first two years there, then I switched over to footy again and played all the way up. Cracked to the First XVIII in Year 10, and then played all the way through to Year 12. Was lucky enough to win the Alcock Cup in my final year, then obviously this year [having] graduated I’m looking to play full season with South Fremantle.

Q: Where have you been spending most of your time training in preseason?

LR: Mostly with [the state academy]. I haven’t really been able to get down to South Fremantle at all yet, haven’t even done a single session with them. But I suppose as the end of the summer squad comes I’ll probably start to head back down there and train with those boys a little bit more.

Q: Have you been able to spend time training with Fremantle?

LR: Yeah, over the past eight or nine weeks I’ve been lucky enough to be training with them twice a week. It’s been an unreal experience, incredible. You learn so much off those boys. Just the little things and the fundamentals that they do so well, I’m hoping to try bring [them] into my game and bring them back to South Freo to implement in our game and all the other boys’ game as well.

Q: Has anyone in particular taken you under their wing?

LR: The likes of Caleb Serong, he’s been unbelievable. Even the younger boys – Matthew Johnson, Neil Erasmus – they’ve been really good with me which so I’m really grateful for.

Q: Are you a Dockers supporter?

LR: No, I’m not. I’m a Richmond [fan]… my mum’s side of the family, they all go for Richmond.

Q: And you were once tied to West Coast, is that right?

LR: Yeah, I think when I was about 14 or 15 I did their program and I was also at Claremont. Then they figured out I was in the South Freo zone and that changed the move from Eagles to Dockers as well.

Q: How was it seeing former teammates Fred Rodriguez and Toby Whan be drafted last year? It must be good to have that visual.

LR: Yeah, definitely. It filled me with motivation playing alongside those boys last year, obviously two incredible players and it was an absolute pleasure to play alongside them. It’s just really filled me with motivation this season that it can be done.

Q: In terms of your footy this year, do you see yourself still nailing down that inside mid role?

LR: My number position will be that inside mid and I’ll play that for the majority of the year. I’ll also look to develop my craft. I’d like to rest forward a little bit more, so a bit of my forward craft, and then potentially as that third tall off half-back one as well. I played pretty much all my juniors off, half-back. I think my aerial game is one of my biggest strengths as well, so I think I can implement that at half-back.

Q: Can you expand on some more of your strengths, and the areas you’re still looking to improve on?

LR: I think my number one strength is probably my cleanliness, my ability to read the ball off the hands of the ruck and around stoppage. I think I’m pretty smart around that side of the game. Then obviously my aerial ability as well.

A couple things that I’ve been working on is my speed over this preseason. I’ve been doing a lot of work with a sprint coach through the WA program. I’ve been doing that for the past two or three months now and I think it’s really paying dividends so far. Also just bringing my endurance game to the next level as well.

Q: What sort of goals have you set up for the season?

LR: My goals [revolve around] the ‘controllables’. Getting my diet right, getting my recovery right and that sort of thing. The things I can control. Obviously the draft you can’t really control, so I’ve just been putting all my energy into the things that I can. Getting to training early and that sort of stuff, getting the fundamentals in and just really making the most of the sessions.

Q: Which teammate should we look out for to have a big year?

LR: I reckon Byron Foster, he’s been pretty promising. He’s originally a ruckman but has gone down to a key back in a few of the match sims that we’ve been doing at state [training]. I think he’s been competing really well.