2013 Pre-season Discussion

[Mayestro]

Thanks for the run down from those able to attend, common theme seems to be a few of the young guys impressing, Karni, Polec, Doc. Great to see.

Thanks to all for the match reports! For Brisbane to take another step forward we do need players like Karni, Polec and Doc to put serious pressure on best 22 players. Would love to have seen everyone gunning it, but at least we already know the older blokes can play.

 

[BigCat2]

Finished night shift, managed to drive there just before the first bounce! I'll offer some observations, but bear in mind I did come off working 12 hours so my eyes probably deceived me a bit. The Red team also didn't have numbers on their backs, making it hard to work out who was who at times.

Overall skills a bit mixed. Some good movements and kicks, but also numerous missed targets and turners. To be expected for the first hit out of the year I think. Enough physicality there with some (at times crude) tackles. There also seemed a plan to move through the opposition's defensive zone with short passes and working the angles.

Most impressive players for me were Beams, Crisp, Docherty, Karnezis, Merrett, Raines and Yeo.

Adcock - played halfback, neat kicking and directing some of the play, showing his experience.
Banfield - hardly touched it, didn't seem to be running on top of the ground at all. Well shadowed by Yeo who was his opponent, and let him get away too often.
Beams - hard running, good kicking skills. Expect to see plenty of gut running from him this year.
Bewick - played on a wing mostly. Found space easily and skills pretty decent.
Black - didn't play. The champ was running laps.
Brown - didn't get much service. Misread the flight on a few occasions, giving Goose the prime position.
Cornelius - 3 goals, and did run up to the wing on occasions. Marking and field kicking solid.
Crisp - quite impressive, good run and marking.
Docherty - played back pocket, not sure who he was playing on, but provided plenty of thrust from defence. Flat penetrating kicks usually found their marks.
Golby - also played in defence and looked composed.
Green - prominent early, was used mostly through the midfield. Likes to burrow into packs. Kicked a clever crumbing goal too.
Karnezis - played exclusively midfield. Marking and decision making solid. Movement seemed good.
Lester - played halfback, a typical solid yet unobstrusive game.
Leuenberger - played mostly forward early, then went into the ruck for some nice hit outs. Was rested after half time, and run some more laps.
Lisle - didn't see much of him.
Longer - played mostly ruck, got some taps. Didn't get much ball around the ground.
Maguire - played on Brown the whole game. As stated above, nil-all draw.
McGrath - played forward, constructive with his low flat passes.
McKeever - played half forward, took a couple of marks. Missed a set shot (with his famous run-up). Fletcher was barking plenty of instructions at him about where to run.
Merrett - solid as ever in defence. Mopped up everything that came his way. A few nice kicks.
Michael - played mostly in ruck and did a solid job. A very nice contested mark and goal from the pocket.
Moloney - strong over the ball, didn't get a whole heap of it though.
Newell - put his running power to good use, managed to get himself free on many occasions to receive.
Paparone - went on long searching leads, and his opponent (not sure who) couldn't get near him. Kicking a bit mixed. Missed 2 set shots.
Patfull - unobtrusive game.
Polec - did well, gathering some of his own ball. Kicking sound.
Polkinghorne - half forward, a few nice touches but didn't get a heap of it.
Raines - did a tagging job on Rockliff then Rich. Managed to get himself free going the other way quite a fair bit. Kicked a nice goal also. Have hopes for him now to become a tagger who can hurt his direct opponent.
Redden - busy as always, kicking solid.
Rockliff - a bit quiet.
Wearden - got a few touches in the back half, seemed a bit undecisive with his disposals.
Yeo - I thought played an excellent game at half back. Completely shadowed Banfield, and all his kicks from defence hit their mark. Made a nice evasive run using his agility and pace.
Zorko - had a few touches, but didn't stand out.

Oh, and saw Cain Tickner there. Quite solid already, with a strong core.
Also saw a tall young lad - possibly Archie Smith. He was strolling with a couple of Lions staffers - probably Academy staff.

 

[Grimreepah]

Always good to see the blues lose.

 

[Jorgo]

Not to disagree with you too much BigCat2 but I thought Lisle was quite noticeable early. Couple of good leads and made a few nice contests.

Probably did slide away a bit but there was a period there where I thought he was quite good.

Nice summary of the players mate!

 

[BigCat2]

Yeah Jorgo you're most likely right. Might have been where I was standing too - for the first quarter I stood near the coach's box, looking into the sun - couldn't make out players' faces.

 

[GingerGreatness]

Thanks for the summary BigCat2 - had to look up what "unobtrusive" meant!

 

[POBT]

Who did Patfull play on, guys?

 

[Jorgo]

Who did Patfull play on, guys?

I know it was either Lisle or Martin but I honestly can't remember at the moment.

Had half a post here with all the key defensive/forward matchups but halfway through my memory got hazy.

I remember it was one of those two because weevil & I were having a conversation about how that must mean their stocks for Rd1 were reasonably high to draw Patfull.

 

[whatboutbob]

Good summaries guys.

Belgo covered most of the stuff that stood out for me.

Based off today's performance we should expect significantly more pressure on the last few spots.

PK's form in the middle was the take-away from today. He did exactly what he did for most of last year in the ressies...but with a bit less polish (hopefully that will rebound as he settles in). He would've gotten 30+ touches.

Both Doc and Golby are looking like they should be best 22, while Polec and Beams should be there abouts too. Yeo's looking really nippy and his kicking was solid, so he'd be unlucky to lose his spot. Gave Banfield the run around.

Of the 1st year players, Paps was the pick of the bunch by a reasonable margin. Bourke did some good things down back, while Close looked all at sea playing on Ace. It may have just been a lack of familiarity with the role, but he didn't look quick. Hayes was very quiet but showed a couple of really nice composed glimpses.

And yeah, Archie Smith was there at the end.

Lion up: Cal played a bit in the middle but was pretty quiet. Worked his way into the game a little bit tho, so hopefully will be better for the run. Lots of voice and the usual couple of hard hits.

 

[Tassie4ever]

Don't disagree with any of the above. Preferred to look at who might make the critical differences and TBH didn't see a great deal.

We really miss Power at his best with his great "stop" and change of direction. Beams has a real boot on him, that's for sure. Michael will be a tremendous asset. Is already, really.

Our big man stocks are looking impressive with Longer, Martin [was originally a doubter but I may well be wrong] Leuenberger, Michael [who did quite well against the aforementioned, and Lisle [who played almost exclusively forward as far as I could see].

Maybe Banfield has an eyesight problem? Bewick much faster than I recall- very involved. Moloney will be valuable. Bartlett quite vocal.

 

[weevil]

Lisle dominated early, not sure if he had Big Red moved on him after that or he was running with him the whole time.

As Jorgo was saying it was clear that the good tall forwards had the good tall backs on them. So the order was something like JB, Lisle, Leuenberger, Martin, Ace, McKeever, Guns (Paparone), etc... Barring any big changes it looks very much like JB and Lisle with the rucks resting forward.

Don’t know if it was the hair making him stick out but PK looked to be killing it. Seemed to get heaps of the ball and used it nicely.

Docherty looked completely at home, will be very surprised if he is not playing a lot this year. Berwick seemed quiet early but then was everywhere. Out of the younger crew Polec, Beams, Crisp, Golby, Green and Yeo all looked the goods.

Man you see it a little in the photos but Rocky really looks completely different. His body and face are totally changed, very hard to recognise out on the ground.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Thanks everyone for those summaries. Sounds like enough played well to give selectors headaches going into the NAB cup and season proper. Any sense that Mayes was injured, or just not used?

 

[HPLion]

Arrived at 8am for a 40 minute warm-up and had to leave before 9am so saw about 15 mins.

In that time I thought both Polec and Redden were strong for the red team and Lisle was very prominent early. Beams also red had some good touches. Yeo was on Ace first-up IIRC. Martin's snap goal was very impressive - a coast to coast goal. Saw Redden dump Green in a tackle that stung him. Red team well on top when I left.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Man you see it a little in the photos but Rocky really looks completely different. His body and face are totally changed, very hard to recognise out on the ground.

Was getting the hard tag from Rainsey too. Clearly they are planning to return Rocky to the heat of the midfield engine room.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Also seemed apparent to me that there was a conscious effort to move Richy away from the in-and-under stuff and try to give him the ball in space. Was almost playing as a true wingman at some stages.

 

[two team]

great hit out by the team this morning. have read some of the posts already, its interesting how suppporters view the game. i was interested in big cats post but didn,t agree with him on a few points overall a good summary. for me players were playing in bursts some quarters they stood out then went back into their shell. I thought redden was fantasic until he got injured towards the end of the session. [ did not seem that serious]. jack crisp was extemely effective playing a midfield roll. i thought Docherty was excellent for the entire match.Leuenbergerwas good winning tap outs with ease and also effective around the ground till he left after half time. stef martin was also a great especially around the ground.polec run was good. beams and bartlett i thought had excellent games especially bartlett. my view of rockliff differed from big cat, i thought he had an excellent game and looked like he captained the red team.( could be a sign of things to come)new boy papparone was another to shine on many patchs of play kicking could improve a little. cornelius had a good game over 4 quarters and he has some penetration with his kicks.
i loved golbys game he just seems to have so much time makes good decisions and is a great kick. longer looked good at times won a few ruck contests. michaels as mentioned was rucking was always vocal and loves the hard contests.i also loved Karnezis game seem to be playing midfield and won heaps of possesions. i actually thought green and zorko were quiet .. most unusual and banfield was well held all game. bewick and yeo played good games and i thought newell had a great couple of quarters getting a heap of ball. over all i thought it was a good hit out and presented the selectors with a few headaches.

 

[Dylan12]

For today's attendees, could somone please be so kind and provide their thoughts on how Ash went today and who his opponent(s) were. Thank you

 

[two team]

For today's attendees, could somone please be so kind and provide their thoughts on how Ash went today and who his opponent(s) were. Thank you

sorry ash was good not dominant but a good solid game . opponents i actually couldn,t remember

 

[patfullfankezz]

Thanks *sniff* for the updates *sob* guys. Really wish *hic* I could have been there

Happy Valentines Day Lions.

 

[two team]

the tall lad walking accross the oval during halftime was Budding basketball prodigy Archie Smith – the son of former Brisbane Bullets NBL All-Star Andre Moore – is the latest athlete to join the Hyundai Brisbane Lions Academy after being identified through the Rookie Search program.

 

[knaf]

Thanks for the up-dates. Always loved the intra club games, so it was great to get a bit of a feel for how the team and individuals are going. Sounds like there is definately improvement.

On a scale of one to ten how excited should we be?

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Thanks for the up-dates. Always loved the intra club games, so it was great to get a bit of a feel for how the team and individuals are going. Sounds like there is definately improvement.

On a scale of one to ten how excited should we be?

15

 

[Dylan12]

On a scale of one to ten how excited should we be?

Nigel and I think 11.

 

[pulsade]

It was an interesting hit out especially after 3/4 time when it was match simulation with Vossy calling which team should get the ball.

A couple of things really stood out to me, both teams played three talls with Blue having Brown McKeever and Lewy/Michael mixed in with Close and Paparone as well. Red mainly with Ace, Lisle and Martin. Early on nearly all the bigs got a goal with Ace, Martin, Brown, Lewey, Billy and Lisle all slotting goals. Ace with a set shot from 50, Martin with a great goal from distance on the run and Lisle a set shot from the boundary from 40+.

I was impressed with Martin, he led well I thought and hit a number of shortish targets by foot. Lisle struggled against Merret at times but it wasn't really being put out in front of him, I'd say that is more to do with Merret's strength than anything.

Rich, Raines, Moloney were paired up as were Rocky, Redden and Crisp and they all spent a ton of time on the ball. I thought Patty K was great on the wing, even snapped a goal without much space which I think is a great quality he has, did a fair bit of it in the 2s as well.

A lot of the rookies seemed lost at times and were being directed by Jed Adcok in particular, he called out Paparone and Hayes a number of times making sure they were in the right position at stoppages. Paparone in particular seems like he needs to learn a bit more about where to position himself at stoppages but good to see him get some time on the wing. I thought Boruke was impressive down back, spoiled a one on one marking contest with J Brown at one stage.

Moloney's strength is quite obvious, a couple of times he seemed wrapped up but was able to get his arms free and get a clearance but I didn't see too much of him for most of the game.

But yeah good fun, I was fairly encouraged, the red team in particularly got a number of marks in the forward 50 that led to good shots and goals and this was against a Merret, Patful, Adcok, Yeo led backline. At times they seemed to play on to their detriment but the run was really encouraging especially out of Golby and Bewick. For me it will come down to the midfield and how well they can compete. Looking good for the NAB cup I think, even that time will be pretty hard to pick. It will certainly be interesting!

 

[irel]

Hey guys it's Thursday, is it OK to vent on selections or lack there off?