Review Grand Final, 2023 - Collingwood vs. Brisbane Lions

[Elixuh]

Guyssssss we had a chance to win it late and came so close. Going to be a long offseason but we made great strides this year and our boys gave us a wonderful experience this week. Proud of em!

 

[MacMum]

BTW, Love you and your posts MacMum you've had a tough couple of years.

Hope you're well.

BTW, love you all too It has been tough and something I didn't mention cos I thought you peeps might be sick of my sad tales, but there was another one 1 month ago yesterday. My sons long time girlfriend passed away. I flew up to the GC straight away and was there for nearly 2 weeks..she had been sick on and off for a while. Son still doing it tough ..

I'm well thanks, have to be with so much happening atm....moving house next weekend.

 

[KissKiss]

Gotta say I feel for the mods tonight. I see so many posts popping up and then disappearing.

I do appreciate the great work you have done for us too

 

[BangyBangy]

Feel like we are in for a tough couple of years.
Lester and Zorko are on verge of retirement and we don’t have ready made replacements
Unsure if Hipwood, Berry or Rayner will get better
GWS and Carlton will be better and we may struggle to finish top 2 which is basically what we need to make the Big Dance

For real?

You think we're in for a tough couple of years for losing Lester & Zorko?

Sweet lord.

 

[AFLQLD]

Better to have been in a GF and lost than never to have been in one at all.

The pain is real but there are worse things that happen.

We go again next year with a few guys a little fitter, a little more experienced, a little smarter, a little tougher. We trade as well as possible, maybe find a draft gem, develop the younger guys and have a big preseason.

The pain will dull slowly but it will also be a driver to be fitter and smarter and tougher.

 

[Gadzorks]

Distract her be mentioning the Swans game

Hey I've still had pies fan sending me crap messages in a conversation. I've pot him on ignore but the messages are getting through.

How can I completely block him?

 

[left at home]

Commiserations to all on here, the game was a beauty, and played in the right spirit, look forward to next year because you guys have a very good team

 

[martinson]

The heat didn't suit us because we only had the one ruckman and a couple of guys who play on their talent but never run out games. Junk time goals were very telling.

I'm not sure how we progress next year if we can't get Rayner up to speed for more midfield minutes . After Charlie kicked the goal to put us in front we should've been jumping on the ball like they do but the way they just waltzed it out of there and goaled straight away was an energy sapper.

So many moments ,mistakes , whatever else you could point to.

They were the better side overall but we were oh so close to pinching it. We lost it at the end of the first and second quarters with some very sloppy disposals and poor decision making. And a poor set up structurally for junk time.

Nonetheless I'm not really gutted because in a lot of respects we didn't play well ,quite a few players who had ordinary games and we still could've snuck in.

Once Murphy went off we just didn't capitalise in the match ups.

 

[tate13]

Better team won, but geez it’s hard to cop Victorian teams whinging about fixture inequality (who plays wce etc twice) when the grand final is so stacked against any non Victorian side. For those keeping score that’s 2 wins from the past 12 times a non vic team has faced a vic team in the gf.

 

[janty]

I’m officially done with Zorko. Hope he retires. We can’t have the most senior member of the team making skill errors time after time. Don’t even get me started on the niggling shit that is getting worse and worse as his play is deteriorating.

 

[golions]

For real?

You think we're in for a tough couple of years for losing Lester & Zorko?

Sweet lord.

sorry poor wording, tough couple of years as in we will go backwards relative to other contenders (Port, Melbourne, Carlton and GWS) and we may struggle for top 4 let alone top 2 (which is what we need to have a genuine crack on GF day) - will need a mini rebuild of sorts slotting a few younger guys in

 

[Lockie]

What a tense day. Gutted by the result - will need some time to think through out list and disappointed in how some played, but also those players got us to the Grand Final. Hats off to all the Lions supporters at the ground - we made such a fantastic noise. Good on the supporters around my in M28 who voices were loud and strong.

 

[Dalions]

Unfortunately Collingwood were just a little bit better across the day, not much but just enough.
The boys have put in a massive effort across the year.
We will back it up next year and put all of our eggs in that basket.

 

[Tom14]

I’d be shocked if Joe didn’t win the B&F. Stood up today along with Charlie, clug and kiddy. Not many others met the mark.

 

[beatnik]

Lyons should have been on mid q3. Fagan has failed there all year and does once again on the biggest day.

Hindsight is always easier

 

[Mootsy]

Proud but you can't win a premiership with 3 midfielders

You guys were still great though and have a good midfield when you're really switched on, considering it was at a Melbourne home crowd and the occasion they are always switched on, but one thing i noticed during the medal handout, the magpies are stacked in terms of midfield talent and are at a point where they win a lot of random bounces of the ball around the play. Hard to beat, but you got close. If they had a gun full forward, they'd be even harder to win against. Having said that, had you guys stopped Hill then who knows the outcome. But how do you stop a player that chooses to take a specky at thirty five metres out after already kicking three goals.

Daniher was immense.

 

[Pride of lions]

So disappointing to see Rayner perform so badly today. He provided no forward pressure or impact on the game when he went back in red time at the end of quarters. He just doesn’t appear to be fit enough and really seemed to struggle in the conditions. It looks like he is never going to realise his potential because of his fitness issues which would be a massive waste of talent. He can’t just be a burst player without developing other sides to his game.

 

[Pacman82]

Sorry - totally disagree - he’d taken the mark and he came in and tackled him and took him to ground to hold him up - easiest 50 metre to pay - I don’t recall any that we should have got other than a ball not being returned in the full late but I think there was some confusion over who was in control. Both 50m penalties against Berry were for the same thing which is poor.

Sorry man, but I respectfully disagree

 

[Gav Man]

Longtime lurker but not a big poster. I have to agree with 3kz, AFLQld and a few others that have posted that they aren’t as distraught as they thought they would be.
Yes it hurts but what an amazing week it has been as a loyal Vic Lions supporter.
Thanks to the Brisbane Lions 2023 team I got to take my family on a fantastic trip to the Gabba last weekend, they got to revel in all the grand final week celebrations and finally I got to take my 13 year old son and 16 year old daughter to a Grand Final which was a dream of mine (there are many people who will never experience a Grand Final live).
Realistically we never got our game going today except for small patches and playing catch up football is always hard work.
What’s summed up our game today for me was after Charlie kicked the second last goal of the game we immediately conceded a goal within a minute to an overlap to De Goey.
Unfortunately we were just not good enough on the day.
Season 2023 has seen so many more positives than negatives as a Brisbane Lions supporter/member!

 

[BRAB]

That was one of those I’m sad there was a winner games. Wicked contest in the end.

Positive to pies fans is that no one has given it to me post game in Melbourne city.

The magpies fans around me at the game and after the game have all been so nice. It’s a bit unsettling

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Hindsight is always easier

A hot day with plenty of ineffective players. Hindsight not the issue. Poor management of a situation that he's been poor at all year.

 

[Paul Mac]

well just got home and guttered. Well done to all Lions supporters at the game where we really tried to take it up to the collingwood supporters with our support of the boys. Thought the supporters were awesome today in helping the boys out. Just seemed everytime from a clearence collingwood had a spare many many times. Cant say much negative on a 4 point loss as could have gone either way but it did seem like we were chasing collingwood alot today but thats just my opinion being at the game.

 

[Ceebee]

sorry poor wording, tough couple of years as in we will go backwards relative to other contenders (Port, Melbourne, Carlton and GWS) and we may struggle for top 4 let alone top 2 (which is what we need to have a genuine crack on GF day) - will need a mini rebuild of sorts slotting a few younger guys in

No we won’t.

 

[Warwick]

This hurts but let’s be honest. They were better than us.

They dominated between the arcs.

We may not get another chance and that hurts, but life goes on. Proud of the boys.

 

[Lionwest]

Absolutely shattered. Im trying to be positive about the year and think towards 2024. Where do we see our growth coming from? Hopeful that Jaspar with his first proper pre-season can really kick on and dominate on the wing and spend sometime on ball. Also need a couple of lads from outside the team to jump out and have a massive pre-season (Sharp, Tunstill, Brain…)