[1] Lewis played junior football with North Ballarat and made his senior debut with the Roosters in 1988 before spending two summer seasons playing with Darwin club St Mary's, alongside future Essendon champion Michael Long.
[1] In 1989, Lewis played alongside brother Wes in Torquay’s premiership side and returned to North Ballarat for the 1990 season.
By this time almost every AFL club was aware of his prodigious talents and lined up to secure his services in the mid-season draft.
[1] Just before the 1990 mid-season draft, Lewis kicked seven goals for North Ballarat in an inter-league game and caught the eye of scouts.
As it turned out, Brisbane named South Australian Laurence Schache and the Swans, true to their word, took Lewis at number two.
While Lewis showed flashes of individual brilliance and established himself as a regular senior player, it was usually in a losing team.
In 2002, Lewis made the claim that he thought "75% of AFL players would have 'done'/[taken] illicit drugs" at some point in their career.