Brisbane Lions FC
Born: 3 May 1986
Height: 187cm
Weight: 86kg
Junior Club: Aspley
Senior Club: Northern Eagles / Zillmere
Schools: Brighton Primary, St.Patrick’s College, Shornecliffe
Regional Selection: Northern Raiders
Queensland Selection: U16 (2002), U18 (2003-04)
Draft Details: Zone Priority Selection 2006 Rookie Draft, Elevated to Senior List 2006 National Draft.
AFL Debut: Brisbane Lions v St.Kilda, Telstra Dome, Rd 3, 2006, (13 April)
Jumper Number: 32
AT A GLANCE: Cheynee Stiller is a star graduate of the school of "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again". A member of the 2004 Queensland U18 side, he was overlooked at the national draft when State U18 teammates Tom Williams, Pat Garner, Luke McGuane and Brad Moran were drafted. Likewise when four further members of the Scorpions outfit - Marcus Allan, Will Hamill, Scott Harding and Ed McDonnell - were rookie-listed. It was frustrating time for a young man whose older brother Jeremy was already in the system as a Brisbane Lions rookie, and in 2004 had won the Zane Taylor Medal as Queensland's best player in an interstate clash with the ACT in Canberra. But rather than accept rejection the younger Stiller took it as a challenge.
He went back to the Eagles, coached in 2005 by ex-Carlton coach Wayne Brittain, played well at club level, and earned a spot in the Queensland side, coached by Danny Craven, for an eagerly-awaited clash with Western Australia,. He had just turned 19 and was one of the youngest members of a side chosen primarily from the QAFL State League. Yet you wouldn't know it. Playing deep in defence, the slightly-build left-footer was superb as the Maroons put together what coach Craven, former St.Kilda and Brisbane Bears rover turned dual AFLQ premiership coach, labelled the most honorable 58-point loss he'd been involved with. Early in the second half the home side had pulled to within four points of the star-studded WA outfit before the Sandgropers, coming from a first-division State League competition, kicked 10 of the last 12 goals. In the big picture the result didn't matter. Not to Stiller. He'd made his statement. With scouts from every AFL club on hand, he'd showed he was capable of taking the next step.
He played for Queensland against ACT at the Gabba in July ‘05, where the Maroons had an excellent 38-point win, and returned to the Eagles, commanding new-found respect as his side reached the preliminary final. Yet still it didn't happen as Queenslanders Courtenay Dempsey, Wayde Mills, Sam Gilbert, Rhan Hooper, Michael West and Austin Lucy were drafted, and Marcus Allan and Josh Drummond were elevated from the Brisbane rookie list to the senior list. Finally, though, he got his chance as a Queensland rookie. Invited by Port Adelaide to attend a trial camp on the Sunshine Coast, he was offered a Queensland priority rookie list spot with the Lions and grabbed it. He was the only new 'local' on a list which included Adelaide-based pair Jason Roe and Lenny Clark, Lions delistee Luke Forsyth and Irishmen Colm Begley and Brendan Quigley (who would later return home), plus returning 2005 rookies Hamill, Harding and Pask.
But the next step was amazingly quick. By round 3 2006 he was an AFL player. He had trained as part of the Lions' senior 25 for the first time two days before the Easter Thursday clash with St Kilda at the Telstra Dome, and later that afternoon he was signing papers to seal his elevation to the senior list and just minutes later he was learning that his AFL debut was little more than 48 hours away. He'd never played a senior AFL practice match, and hadn't even travelled interstate with the senior team, yet he acquitted himself well with 16 possessions and a first-quarter goal in a neat debut. It was a dream come true for the product of Brighton State School and St.Patrick's College, Shorncliffe, who had represented Queensland at U12, U15, U16, U18 and Open level before finally earning his chance at the elite level. He was captain of the Northern Raiders U16s in 2002 and winner of the Raiders' U18s B&F in 2003. He was also a quality performer in other sports, representing the First XI cricket team at St.Patricks in 2002 and 2003, playing in the First V basketball team in '03, and competing with some success in cross country and 800m track running.
But long before he finally made the grade he decided AFL was for him. In round 13, in just his fourth senior game, he earned a nomination for the 2006 NAB AFL Rising Star Award after a standout performance against Carlton at the Gabba, when he kicked the winning goal in his first AFL victory. Through the last 11 games of the season he polled 25 votes in the club championship. Only Simon Black (30.5), Justin Sherman (27) and Luke Power (26), who would ultimately comprise the top three in the Merrett/Murray Medal, polled more. On a votes-per-game basis, the 13-game rookie averaged 2.08, bettered only again by the overall place-getters Black (2.41), Sherman (2.20) and Power (2.16), and he finished equal 11th overall. He was elevated to the senior list and given a new two-year contract.
In 2007 he played every game and finished 7th in the B&F and was also chosen in the Queensland Team of the Year, selected on State of Origin guidelines for the first time to recognise Queensland-bred players from right across Australia. But season's end he had played 33 senior games in a row. Things didn’t go quite to plan in 2008, when he played only 10 senior games and spent time in the Reserves, but in 2009, when Michael Voss took charge, he played 22 of a possible 24, including his first final. He was used with considerable success in a run-with role on some of the game’s premier midfielders, and was rewarded with a further contract for 2010-11.
