Autopsy Lions prevail by 10

[cats_09]

Would have been easily beaten next week. No Danger or Holmes.

Couple of immediate observations.

- Duncan had a terrible last 10 mins. As I’ve said all year, it’s passed him by. Run down close to goal (burnt Jezza without hand balling) and turned over the handball to Ashcroft for Lions last goal. Get him to 300 if they must but he’s a serious liability.

- Bruhn owes us a big pre season after tonight and MUST take the next step if we’re to hang on next season.

- Atkins should be nowhere near midfield unless he tags.

- Mullin will be a very good player. The pressured kick on his left foot late that set up the Henry goal was elite.

- Stanley deserves more credit. Stood up late in the year and was good. But needs a long break and is only ‘insurance’ next year.

Otherwise I think we’re ok. Get Bailey Smith and another mid and we lick our wounds and go again.


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Dangerfield?

 

[Commando]

must admit this one hurts.. fantastic opportunity slipped through our hands
However the sun comes up tomorrow

I was actually more nervous at half time, that bogey 3 goal margin always gets us.
Hawks, Tigers, Lions

Anyway credit to Brisbane, might boycott next week, happy with either to win as the previous two GF losers but I need to get away from it for a bit.. way too invested
But we can't enjoy the highs if we don't endure the lows, she really is a cruel game sometimes

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Maybe this is part of denial or whatever, but I honestly don't think tonight mattered, neither team is beating the Swans, atleast with the injury concerns both teams would have had.

 

[bulletproof]

The Holmes injury killed us.

Midfield got annihilated, that's the game. Luck Infront of goal in the first half did enough to hide the obvious deficiency that always threatened to kill us. Could not win a clearance, they had total control.

Never want to see Mullin in a Geelong jumper again. SDK out will hang over us all summer.

Neale needs a big summer.

Weird to call out Mullin today. I thought he was a positive.

Would like to see him play midfield next year. Has some serious talent.

 

[catters05]

We just didn’t take our opportunities, especially that first ten minutes.

The pressure drop off was poor, but i felt the team looked really slow once Holmes was cooked.

Stengle was very poor for his standards. But they gave us an enjoyable ride this year.

Very disappointed and upset with the loss, but think we can go one better next year.

 

[Cataholic]

Dangerfield?

I think he's expecting him to be suspended?

 

[aristocat]

I feel sick, what a horrible way to end the season. So close to the finish line.

 

[Lana]

One thing I'm really confused with from tonight - what were we doing with Tom Stewart?

Since the Essendon match he's been a mainstay of our midfield rotation, almost the #1 centre bounce attendee for us, and positioning himself on the defensive side of the stoppage to limit easy goal side clearances

Tonight he attended 4 centre bounces and seemed to be back in his previous role as defensive sweeper

I'm actually not sure that role really worked tonight and there were times it seemed to cause confusion with others where they just didn't seem to have an understanding or be on the same page as each other

I'd be curious to know the thinking behind the move, but also why once Holmes & McInerney went down, he didn't shift back into the guts as we probably could have used him in there


View attachment 2117399

He probably wasn't prelim final inside midfield fit.

 

[Finknottle]

No excuses, we were beaten by the better team. Still pretty happy that we were in contention. Stengle had a shocker but we wouldn't have got this far without him. Some of our younger players didn't handle the pressure. The zone was being picked apart by Brisbane and Scott had no plan B. Plenty to work on next year.

 

[SkittleCats]

The Holmes injury killed us.


Weird to call out Mullin today. I thought he was a positive.

Would like to see him play midfield next year. Has some serious talent.

Nope, he is a total liability. If he is in the midfield next year we are cooked.

 

[bulletproof]

Maybe this is part of denial or whatever, but I honestly don't think tonight mattered, neither team is beating the Swans, atleast with the injury concerns both teams would have had.

Geelong without Holmes would have been a disaster. Think the Lions can go into it with a fair chance.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I get that logic - and maybe I am just hoping it is wrong.

I do believe they are a better team but maybe your points about going the hard way and no ruck will mean they fall over. But I really hope they can rally as it would be just reward IMO. I just don’t see Swans as the better team. But maybe they have the better circumstances. Time will tell

They are not beating sydneys midfield with darcy fort vs grundy and sydney having the week off. We have seen all year how brisbane can get opened up defensively. I expect its over by half time.
Which is sad for neutrals.

 

[foxdog50]

I was right about Bruhn

I honestly can't see what you mean on Bruhn... it is frustrating. But I'm not writing him of yet..

 

[bulletproof]

Nope, he is a total liability. If he is in the midfield next year we are cooked.

I think most people will disagree but maybe you saw something I didn’t.

 

[cats_09]

I think he's expecting him to be suspended?

If we know anything about finals it's that he likely gets reported now we're out but surely if playing next week he would be playing

I can only think it's for the tackle, and don't think it looked that bad

 

[Baudolino]

I actually find Prelim losses hurt more than Grand Final losses weirdly, not sure why, so I'm grateful to that Halav dude for getting me out of that emotional headspace by giving me a dumb distraction lol

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Geelong without Holmes would have been a disaster. Think the Lions can go into it with a fair chance.

No big O and someone else seemed hurt, can't remember who, plus 3 grueling hard games vs 2 pretty breezy games for a team without injury concerns and who have shown they are clearly the best team all season.
They're a chance simply because it's a 2 horse race, but I reckon the Swans could give a 35 point head start and still win comfortably.
Against us even more so.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I agree. Add Guthrie if he holds up - even as depth.

2024 Break out players hopefully can avoid ‘second year blues” and if so we get some natural improvements.


Only thing of course is that it is so hard to get back to prelim - just ask GWS

Guthrie is cooked as are duncan bews rohan stanley (most wont be on the list next year).

For next year demspey mannagh and humphries need to keep improving and be in our best 10 players. And we need clark and knevitt to come on very quick or trade in some good mids. And we need a capable ruck-we have to put sdk in there (much as i hate it) or trade in a ruck pronto.

The 28 + age guys cant be relied upon to carry us its the ones underneath that need to step up.

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

Huge credit to Brisbane, they were great.

Very disappointing loss, but we were in no way disgraced at the conclusion of a year in which we were given little chance of contending - but DID.

We can look back on tonight's game as a lost opportunity - and in many ways it was - but we were really close to a Grand Final in a year where I had next to zero expectations that we might contend.

The umpiring wasn't great - but Brisbane absolutely deserved their win.

Yeah lions ran out the game so much better.
Credit to their fitness levels. Just did not stop running.
You’d think they were the team that had the week off.

 

[frggr]

Nope, he is a total liability. If he is in the midfield next year we are cooked.

He's better for the experience. There are players with his number of games, who've played AFL all of their lives, who aren't as good as he is.

He'll keep building.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Neale tried hard .
Also marked afew in the last .
Even with Andrews arm chops .

 

[Scorpio]

My eardrums are still recovering from sitting in front of the loudest Geelong supporter I’ve ever come across. Shout out to everyone in N29

I’m not angry about the result. But it is a kick in the guts to lose like that. It felt like a couple more goals at the start of the 3rd quarter might’ve been enough to have the Lions spiralling. But we let them off the hook and their midfield got back on top.

I reckon Sydney will smash them. Feels like it’s their time

 

[catters05]

I actually find Prelim losses hurt more than Grand Final losses weirdly, not sure why, so I'm grateful to that Halav dude for getting me out of that emotional headspace by giving me a dumb distraction lol

I’m the same when it comes to prelims, but at least I know this club won’t take long to get us back into another one.

 

[SkittleCats]

I think most people will disagree but maybe you saw something I didn’t.

Yeah, I saw him "play". You can't carry players who don't have ability. It always gets shown up. Mullin gets games on his athletic capacity, not his ability to influence the contest. That is unacceptable.

Brisbane didn't have a passenger tonight, we start with 1 everytime we play him.

I get wanting the club to find "another one" from no where, but Mullin isn't it.

 

[catters05]

I think he's expecting him to be suspended?

For the perfect tackle?