AFL Round 1 Brisbane Lions V West Coast Official Thread

[acuguy]

Beligian,

I wonder if there is a link between our failure with the defensive zone and clearances, in both situations you need to have the nous to know when it is your turn to go!!

In both situations you need to be proactive.

 

[nigelicious]

Not a lot spoken about the fact we made that big scoring run in the last qtr on a shortened interchange bench. Even with that lack of rotation, we still looked to have the superior fitness. Great signs.

 

[Football Pope]

Banfield really putting himself in it, but still his kicking is letting him down.

Most memorial for me was his first kick of the game...text book perfect.. right on the chest of the leading Fev...Then the goal he kicked right on quarter time...I gave Banfield a bit of latitude as the game went on, yep he started to make a few errors.. Our options on the interchange were depleted.... and affected the ability to rotate the players we would have liked....Most players were showing signs of cramping up....tired legs...recovery for Thursdays game is a worry!

 

[The Flying Belgian]

Beligian,

I wonder if there is a link between our failure with the defensive zone and clearances, in both situations you need to have the nous to know when it is your turn to go!!

In both situations you need to be proactive.

I think defensive zones are very much a tactical beast, but there needs to be some flexibility, more than I think has been shown in the past.

Clearances are more where ability comes to the fore. Personally I think it's about the confidence to go in and make the ball your own. Obviously there are still tactics involved (what happens if all the players go in at the same time) but there still seems to be a mentality of "leave it to Blacky". If Rischa gets some confidence up he can do that and I'd love to see Polka in the side for that ability. Also would love to see Proud improve the defensive facets of his game so he could bust a few packs open. But there's only so many spots in the team I guess.

 

[dlanod]

+ves:

- Rich was credited with a hitout! Arms above head, must've been the shortest player on the field.

I saw this on the TV. Basically he set himself up as the ruckman for a ball-up and no other ruckmen got to the contest... so he hit the ball about 20 metres further up the boundary, out of bounds. The highlight was him gingerly holding his hand afterwards, obviously doesn't do much hitout practice.

Fev should have kicked 8. I hope he puts them away next week - we need to take our opportunities when we get them. That soccer goal was right in front of us and made us forget about a certain FF for a fraction of a second.

Very curious about how much of it is playing in a new stadium with new wind patterns, new shapes of the pockets, etc. Gabba's a fair bit different to the MCG and Etihad. He definitely had the chances so I figure it's just a case of playing his goalkicking in.

 

[Warwick]

The short turnaround is certainly a worry.

I remember we got run down quite easily by the Pies on a Friday night last year even after a stunning start. And it's earlier in the season and we have a day less to recover this year.

Some big decisions for the match committee this week. A few injuries will mean a couple of changes but do we make a couple more to keep the team fresh while risking what cohesion we developed last night?

 

[DeMerrett]

Started the game screaming into my couch cushion and pacing the lounge room, but it ended with a big grin.

I know Raines got better ad showed some good run, but I ever truly felt confident when he had the ball in his hands.

Like everyone else was stoked with Brennans and Riska's games. Thought Power just proved how consistent and hard working he is. The berger improved as the game went on, slippery hands early on.

I wasn't at the game obviously but on TV I didn't notice Goose's lack of speed too much, I thought he played a relatively decent role and was cramping up a lot by the end of the game.

I guess the good thing about having so much depth is that even with this short turn around we can rotate the list a little. Rockliff and Proud can come in for any sore players. Hopefully Jed and Amon can get a quick turn around. They were also saying that Drummond was severely restricted in the second half, was still playing so hopefully only bad cramp. Ice baths boys, get amongst it.

 

[Full Wingspan]

Does anyone else think our disposal by hand was just appauing?

It created some uneccasary pressure, and created turnovers, which should of been disposals under no pressure whatsoever. Played a huge part in our game IMHO.

 

[mpal6]

From tv, it looked like dew was giving players and umpires trouble. I remember an Umpire yelling, "its slippery !!!!!!!!" to clear the players away during one of the bounces.

 

[JDogg]

Acuguy,

Yeah, I'm all for it. I think Drummond is still the best option. Rich, McGrath, Patfull or even Johnstone are valid options. I don't like Adcock doing it - while he's a safe kick, he's probably not quite create or deceptive enough for the role.

My angst at kick-ins is more our defence when the opposition is kicking in. We are surely still the worst at it in the league. Mind you West Coast had a very obvious plan to break down the zone that we hadn't anticipated. But our blokes don't seem to react to the opposition loading one side of the field. There almost needs to be a "general" standing in the centre square directing if players need to shuffle across. We seem to have a very static zone that doesn't adjust itself.

I have to agree here, I cant remember how many times I was yelling into the TV when West Coast were kicking in and getting out of defense so easily - something has to change here asap. Opposition should not get it up there forward line after two kicks time after time after time. We wont be a top 4 team if this continues.

 

[dlanod]

Does anyone else think our disposal by hand was just appauing?

It created some uneccasary pressure, and created turnovers, which should of been disposals under no pressure whatsoever. Played a huge part in our game IMHO.

Yeah. I was also peeved at the number of stupid midair "tap-ons" rather than clean possessions, because they never went to the man. I'm looking at you, Jed.

 

[MacMum]

Said again on the radio (NIRS, love the boys on NIRS!) that Drummo is with out doubt the best kick in the league. When will BF flogs realise this?

Heard them saying on SEN this morning that Drummond doesn't get the credit he deserves for his kicking....went on to say he would have to be one of the very best kicks going around..

 

[Hollow Knight]

Too many floaty kicks into our forward line too.

We were turning surefire uncontested marking opportunities to teammates in a paddock of space into 50/50 contests.

Frustrating.

 

[tate13]

Really don't see the short turn around as an issue. Carlton still have to travel, which I think cancels out the 5 day break.

 

[Full Wingspan]

Yeah. I was also peeved at the number of stupid midair "tap-ons" rather than clean possessions, because they never went to the man. I'm looking at you, Jed.

At times it was brilliant, but for the majority, it was "hospital handpasses" that were slow and stayed in the air. IMO it was why we were so shocking at times.

We really need to sharpen up if we are going to be a top four side this year. I hoping that these were just first game errors, and once we get into the season, will f***en rip it.

 

[charles202]

I think that we will suffer for the first month due to our less than perfect preseason and new combinations.

Whilst Black and Power were both very good and Brennan was a match winner the most exciting thing for me was the even level of contribution from the next generation of players moving through the midfield.

Riska (28), Sherman (23) ) Rich (18) Redden (18) each had enough disposals for their opposite numbers to make them accountable.

Would have been interesting to see how Buchanan went with full game.

I'm amazed that anyone thought that Banfield had anything but a great game - 17 disposals, 6 marks and 1 goal are great stats for a small forward. For comparison Eddie Betts had 19 disposals being a major target against Richmond.

 

[Offsider]

Very impressed with Brennan, and super impressed with Banfield on debut, looks the goods.

Rich and Redden were solid with out being spectacular, already part of our team, and have expectations placed on them.

The usual suspects dominated/played very well.

Also Travis Johnstone was good and put his head over the ball well, played good but not great yet hopefully he is consistent.

 

[MSB ROYS]

Very happy with the last Q. We will be better for the run and I agree with some previous posters that we need to bring in a few fresh legs. However, I don't believe that we need any motivation to get up for the Carlton game!

 

[chopperduck]

Yet to post after the game, everyone has pretty much said it all already, but i'll add my few bits in.

Brennan - what a freak, 4 or 5 times he pulled a rabbit from the hat and made it look easy. Still had a few clangers, but these days he is pulling off more 'tricks' than he is stuffing up, and this is letting him break open games. Keep him away from the ruck and let him roam as much as possible.

Banfield - Have read some mixed opinions on here so far, and both are right. He was outstanding, he was in the right spots, was front and center and at the feet of the big men, his pressure up forward was great and he managed to find space which isn't easy. Got 17 or 18 touches which is a great effort and kicked a goal. He easily had a hand in 3 or 4 goals, by either pressure and keeping the ball in the forward line, or and intercept or pass. On this alone he is in the team next week, no questions asked. His field kicking really let him down, which was surprising as he didn't have problems with this during the NAB, so perhaps some nerves crept in there. But even with his turn overs, he created more goals than he cost.

Riska - Was outstanding, one of the best games i've seen him play, hopefully he can keep up this kind of form. On the back of many saying he shouldn't be in the team, he showed why the coaches keep him there.

On the team performance, we really struggled to get our hands on the ball for the first 3 qtrs of the game. Our zone was horrible and was reactive, but worse than that was that it was really slow at reacting, too many free eagles players, we also didn't back each other up well, with or without the ball. We did get better as the game went on, but to be top 4 we have to beat the top teams, and we can't do this kind of thing to the top teams.

 

[Hollow Knight]

We've seen two very different opposition approaches to the Brown/Fevola situation in the last few weeks.

The Eagles went with a fairly traditional setup and backed their defensive unit to get the job done.

The Hawks on the other hand flooded huge numbers back all day long to deny Brown and Fev space.

Both plans are not without their flaws.

The Eagles learned that Brown and Fev (when on song) are just very hard to stop without employing a heavily defensive game plan.

The Hawks 'flooding' approach is very labour intensive and they found themself short of a gallop late. Not a good situation to find yourself in against one of the best finishing sides in the competition on recent form.

I think we are well equipped to handle either approach.

The only surefire way to keep the Brown and Fev show quiet is to dominate us in the midfield. There are some sides quite capable of doing this... Geelong, Saints, Collingwood... as such, we need continual improvement form our midfield brigade to take the next step.

 

[Lion El'Johnson]

Brown and Fevola are an unstoppable force with the likes of Black, Power and co. supplying them.

We desperately needed to put an extra man in front of Brown but even then I doubt that would have stopped him. I guess the bigger and more conditioned bodies came through in the end in such a gruelling game. We also had a few too many passengers. Congrats on the win.

Oh and as a DT question- any news on the adcock injury?

 

[POBT]

We desperately needed to put an extra man in front of Brown

Mitch Brown was on Staker for a while and simply let him go upfield on occasion, with a view to being able to play loose in front of Brown and Fevola. I was surprised that Worsfold didn't revert back to that when the Lions were on top.

 

[chopperduck]

Totally agree TBD, our midfield is yet to really click, but hopefully we can keep our rucks healthy and with some natural improvement we can see a lift here this year. I thought we woudl be a bit rusty in this game after not playing in good conditions in the preseason.

Just quietly, i was amazed at how Fev finds space, time and time again he had a few meters on his opponent and took easy marks. His timing and direction of leads is just outstanding as well. The 2 big forwards looked really good tonight, only saw them leading for the same ball once, and in that case Brown peeled off and ended up with an uncontested mark in the pocket from sherman who got the crumbs. Several times Fev was able to get space, even with an extra defender dropping back because he just lead straight to the side instead of forward, this took the extra defender right out of the contest.

We wont always enjoy space like this, but as you said, they will have to flood the back 50 up with a lot of players, and this will tire sides out like we saw with the hawks. We looked pretty bad for at least the first half last night, and despite that i always felt that it was only a matter of time before the flood gates opened.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Just quietly, i was amazed at how Fev finds space, time and time again he had a few meters on his opponent and took easy marks.

Yup, once he has that one metre of separation on his opponent it is lights outs.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Spilt a few grabs he'd normally swallow and missed many shots he'd frequently snaffle as well. A few weeks down the track when his hands and feet are working a bit better and if he receives similar opportunities, he'll put a dozen on the board.