Luckless West Australian James Tunstill to remain at Brisbane after re-signing for one more season

Dual grand final emergency James Tunstill is eyeing his chance to become a regular part of Brisbane’s line-up after re-signing with the reigning premiers. The West Australian understands Tunstill has inked a one-year deal to remain at the Lions despite playing only 12 games in four seasons. Tunstill is highly rated at the club, having been an emergency for the 2023 and 2025 grand finals. But he has been unable to break into a midfield that features dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale, Josh Dunkley, Hugh McCluggage and two-time Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft. The 22-year-old is one of just two AFL players across the past 10 seasons to have been a grand final emergency on multiple occasions, along with teammate Darragh Joyce (2024 & 2025). Drafted out of East Perth with pick No.41 in the 2021 draft, Tunstill played three games this season including the round 24 win over Hawthorn where he was the starting sub. Tunstill produced a career-best performance in the round six loss to Collingwood with 15 disposals but was dropped after just one more match. It comes despite the Lions continuing to boost their midfield stocks through their academy system with highly-rated draftee Daniel Annable set to land at the club next month. Last year they landed father-son product Levi Ashcroft, which has squeezed out Perth-product Deven Robertson who wants to join West Coast. Meanwhile, the Lions have delisted fellow Royals product Darcy Craven after he struggled to get a game in 18 months on the list. Craven was picked up in the 2024 mid-season rookie draft but couldn’t get a game at the AFL level and is now likely to return to East Perth who made consecutive grand finals this year.