For the first time since Jim Stynes and Sean Wight were working their magic together for Melbourne during the 1980s and ‘90s another Irish AFL double act is taking shape in Brisbane.

The Lions’ Pearce Hanley and Niall McKeever are set to follow together in the footsteps of Stynes and Wight, who played a combined 414 games with the Demons from 1985-98 and 100+ games together.

They have picked up the joint mantle from Setanta O’hAilpin and Zuc Tuohy, who played three games together at Carlton last year before being split by O’hAiplin’s defection this year to the GWS Giants.

Hanley and McKeever both say they are inspired by the example set by their trail-blazing predecessors and feel obligated to carry on the proud Irish tradition.

“I didn’t fully appreciate what guys like that had done until I got out to Australia,” said Hanley.

“I’d read about Jimmy winning the Brownlow Medal but I thought it was just a club award, like a B&F. I didn’t realise it was such a big thing.

“His death has been massive news back home – they are going to name a bridge after him in Dublin which is amazing for someone who lived on the other side of the world.”

In a year in which Stynes’ sad passing has intensified the focus on the AFL’s Irish connections, Sydney’s Tommy Walsh has already become the 22nd Irishman to play in the VFL/AFL.

Also, O’hAilpin has become the fourth Irishman to play for more than one AFL club with his first game for the Giants before a season-ending knee injury.

And re-born Collingwood star Martin Clarke has become the sixth Irishman to play 50 senior game and now has an early jump on Hanley in a race to become the fifth Irishman to play 100 games behind Stynes (264), Sydney’s Tadhg Kennelly (197), Scottish-born and Irish-bred Wight (150) and Fitzroy’s Bill McSpeerin (126).

In a fact little known outside Fitzroy circles, rover McSpeerin was actually the first person to play 100 games for the club in a career in which he was captain in 1901-02 and a premiership player in 1898-99-1904.

According to Hanley, there are lots of youngsters in Ireland keen to expand further the AFL/Irish connection. Like his 16-year-old brother Cian.

“He’s still got two years of school left but I can’t see why not. He’s followed much the same route I did at that age although Ireland has stopped the under-age internationals,” said Hanley, scheduled to play his 50th game in Round 17.

“He’s definitely interested. He watches AFL on TV all the time and we talk a lot of Skype – he’s always keen to know what’s going on out here.”

Indeed, the Hanley family love affair with the AFL is a big deal, very big.

Pearce is the third of his parents’ five children but is now one of nine after the family took on four foster children.

“It’s like every time someone leaves home they bring in someone new,” he quipped.

“These days I only get back home once a year for a couple of weeks at Christmas but it’s always a lot of fun.”

Hanley, 23, from County Mayo in western Ireland, looms as a key figure in the Lions redevelopment program after his dashing work in defence saw him finish equal fourth him in the club championship last year.

McKeever, 23, from County Antrim in Northern Island, is another likely type who has already ensured he has a place in the club’s end-of-season highlights tapes when he helped set up a contender for play of the year in the Lions’ round 10 win over West Coast at the Gabba.

His exceptional pace and athleticism saw him run down the Eagles’ Rick Darling in a frantic sprint and get a hand on a would-be Eagles goal. This allowed teammate Josh Drummond to launch a thumping kick to Daniel Rich who eventually got it to James Polkinghorne for the winning 65m torpedo goal.

McKeever, like Hanley, admits he didn’t fully appreciate the Stynes AFL contribution and regrets never having had the opportunity to meet the former Demons legend.

“What I find really inspirational is all the work he did outside football with the Reach Foundation. It just shows how you can make a difference to a lot of people,” he said.

“If people like Jim Stynes and Sean Wight hadn’t done what they’d done there’s no way I’d be playing in Australia now so I certainly feel indebted to them and want to carry on the Irish tradition down under.”