It’s the time of the year when Brisbane Lions star Cam Rayner steps up a gear.

Sometimes questioned for his lack of an impact on games during the early stages of a season, Rayner has made a habit of upping the ante in the run home to the AFL series.

Whether it’s a freak goal, more moments of magic or greater contribution in other areas of the park, the 26-year-old forward has again found something extra in recent weeks in contributing to a Brisbane winning streak that could extend to eight games on Saturday night against Carlton at Marvel Stadium.

“I feel like you do get a little bit more excited coming out to play when these games start to roll around, and I feel like there’s a lot more riding on these games towards the back end of the season,” the 2017 national draft’s first pick said.

“I feel like it’s just a great build-up post the bye. It gives you a lot of clarity in that break, and then you can really reassess and attack that back end of the year.

“With the footy coming up now, I feel like every game going into the next few weeks is a final, so you prepare for that.

“I don’t think it’s anything different that I do, it’s probably just around this time of year it starts to click.

“The half-forward position can be one of the hardest positions to play on the ground for some people. It’s like sort of a starvation corner if the ball’s going over your head or you’re not getting hit-ups, so just to keep trying to staying involved in the game is what my aim is, and being able to (drop into the midfield) gives me the flexibility to tick that off.”

With 167 AFL appearances under his belt, Rayner considers himself among the leaders in a Brisbane forward line that includes emerging stars Logan Morris and Kai Lohmann.

“It’s kind of shifted. It happens pretty quickly. It feels like you’re one of the younger guys in there, and then all of a sudden, there’s probably only two or three boys older than me in the forward group at the moment, so it’s been good,” he said,

“It’s a different role that I’ve had, but you get to play alongside Kai and Logan … (and) you take a little bit more of a senior (role).

“I’ve had people in my time, like Charlie (Cameron) and Eric (Hipwood), who’ve looked after me, and it just gets passed down the baton a little bit.

“I really enjoy it, and it’s always good to see other blokes succeed in that forward line as well.”

Lions coach Chris Fagan was full of praise for Rayner.

“I rate Cam Rayner every week. There are things that he does for us that are so important,” Fagan said.

“The most important thing that he does is he imposes himself physically on the game. He just breaks through tackles and kicks goals, or he breaks through a tackle and handballs to a teammate who kicks a goal.

“He doesn’t get 30 possessions a game, but what he does is high quality, and that’s been the case for you know the best part of his career but particularly over the last three or four years.”

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