Review Qualifying Final, 2020 - Brisbane Lions vs. Richmond

[Nuggo]

Fagan V Matthews

Gee I reckon Fagan is closing the gap...fast

 

[X AE A12]

And soeth it was spokeneth

There is a common theme through all of Richmond's losses this year.

In all of their losses, their opposition's leading goal scorer has tallied 183 goals or more for their career.

Hawthorn, Chad Wingard, 262
St Kilda, Tim Membrey, 187
Giants, Toby Greene, 183
Port Adelaide, Robbie Gray, 333

Therefore to beat Richmond, you must have a player who has done this, and they must lead your team's goal scoring on the night, it's a fact.

Luckily for us we have 2 players in our current list who have amassed greater than this number, the Captain, Dayne Zorko, 193, and Charlie Cameron 187

Both Charlie or Zorko are capable of registering 3 goals or more, if either of them do, they are likely to be equal or best goal scorer on the night, and we will win.

 

[RU_]

The arrogance was ripe from the start.

This was actually because Hardwick wasn’t on the field and came streaming across the field 30 seconds earlier!

 

[trikster]

Just had a quick read of the tigers board, seems the main reason we won was the AFL/umpires rigged the game as we got everything and they got nothing

 

[LionsOrDieTrion]

Anyone else have trouble sleeping last night ?
Not sure if it was the exciting win, the beer and BBQ chips at 11pm, the extra warm night in Vic or.... must’ve been the WIN!!! ****, how great was it !!!

Yeah I got home and watched the replay, didn’t go to bed til 3am. Buzzing

 

[Nuggo]

I want more

 

[Ralphy2017]

McStay took a great contested mark in the first quarter, kicked a goal and then completely disappeared. Three disposals @ 66% Disposal Efficiency. Zero tackles. Two marks. His effort early in the third quarter was indicative of his lack of impact. Fagan needs to act. We can’t go in a “man down” in the Preliminary Final and if we get through, the Grand Final. That is my last word on Dan.

It would appear that for next year we probably need a replacement, nothing will happen for the Prelim: But have agreed for sometime regarding Dan.
I know you are a fan of Lester (and he has done well) but in the 4th Q when Andrews could not get to the contest Riewoldt out marked Lester and scored the goal to get within 9 points. I am slightly concerned about Lester playing 2nd tall IF we face them again because unlike Chol, Lynch won't let Andrews be the third in.

 

[PertRoosOsborne]

Like a fine wine a finals victory ages beautifully, walking on air this morning!

2 weeks to enjoy this feeling and don’t need to get anxious next weekend.

 

[Ralphy2017]

Great game, does that mean we play the Saturday night game week 3 of finals ?

Yes Port Finishing first get the Friday night and the extra days rest, but winner of that game has to travel for GF

 

[haystark]

Just had a quick read of the tigers board, seems the main reason we won was the AFL/umpires rigged the game as we got everything and they got nothing

My favourite was "you played your GF last night" and "the fix is on"

 

[pOleK]

Haven't had a chance to come on to this website for some while and I've missed it. Dad's been sick, uni, work, and just a full schedule lets just say life's putting a lot on my plate right now. We had family over for the first time in a while with us having a bit of a get-together for the final (i get my fanaticism from my dad and uncle) and the whole house was in tears. This club, game, and everything means so much to us, specifically me and dad as it's sort've been our thing since whenever I can remember. Living in regional Queensland there's not a lot of other people I can celebrate this with so for the most part it's always just been me and dad. I remember just 4 years ago, us being constant cellar dwellars, I'd always do the maths to see if we were even a 5% chance of making finals to maintain some hope, dad had sort've lost interest in the game since we were hopeless and it wasn't worth his time because he knew what would result but I kept watching, keeping the faith because i'd never known a good lions team (just born at the start of the 3peat). But now, its all been well worth the ride because we love this team, and it's really brought some light in such a trying year. From Charlie's Harley, to the silky smooth movers in Neale and Clugs, and the constant battlers this team is made of, I think I speak for everyone on this forum when I say we love every single one of you boys and thank you for bringing so much joy in such a trying year for everyone

 

[M Malice]

My favourite was "you played your GF last night" and "the fix is on"

Didn't we play our Grand Final in the 2019 Marsh Community Series.... seriously affected us, we haven't been the same since.

 

[M Malice]

Haven't had a chance to come on to this website for some while and I've missed it. Dad's been sick, uni, work, and just a full schedule let just say life's putting a lot on my plate right now. We had family over for the first time in a while with us having a bit of a get-together for the final (i get my fanaticism from my dad and uncle) and the whole house was in tears. This club, game, and everything means so much to us, specifically me and dad as it's sort've been our thing since whenever I can remember. Living in regional Queensland there's not a lot of other people I can celebrate this with so for the most part it's always just been me and dad. I remember just 4 years ago, us being constant cellar dwellars, I'd always do the maths to see if we were even a 5% chance of making finas to maintain some hope, dad had sort've lost interest in the game he loved since forever as we were gutter tier and hopeless but I kept watching, keeping the faith because i'd never known a good lions team (just born at the start of the 3peat). But now, its all been well worth the ride because we love this team, and it's really brought some light in such a trying year. From Charlie's Harley, to the silky smooth movers in Neale and Clugs, and the constant battlers this team is made of, I think I speak for everyone on this forum when I say we love every single one of your boys and thank you for bringing so much joy in such a trying year for everyone

Fantastic emotional post pOleK, all the best and I hope everything works out for you, stay strong.

 

[3KZ is Football]

It would appear that for next year we probably need a replacement, nothing will happen for the Prelim: But have agreed for sometime regarding Dan.
I know you are a fan of Lester (and he has done well) but in the 4th Q when Andrews could not get to the contest Riewoldt out marked Lester and scored the goal to get within 9 points. I am slightly concerned about Lester playing 2nd tall IF we face them again because unlike Chol, Lynch won't let Andrews be the third in.

Riewoldt was well held by Lester and our defensive unit. He had 6 disposals, which meant he wasn’t bringing other players into the game and only kicked 2 goals which we would take every time. If we play Richmond again this year, it has to be in the GF and in that case we are certain to go with Andrews to Lynch, Lester to Riewoldt and Gardiner to Martin. The key, and we saw this last night, is to make sure Richmond are forced to bomb it into 50 because of our intense midfield pressure. That is going to make it easier for all our defenders.
For the record, Lester had 11 disposals and a team second highest 6 marks, only one behind Harris Andrews who had 7.
Ryan Lester is an absolute gun and a fabulously important role model to have at the club for our younger players. He and Harris Andrews have developed an amazing synergy and they are the “brains” of our defence, complimented by Starcevich, Gardiner, Birchall and Rich. Finally, with Ah Chee and Bailey able to rotate through our defence, we have as dynamic mix of youth and experience, skill and high footy IQ. I’ll back them in against any team in the competition.

 

[X AE A12]

How good was Starcevich, contested marking, pressure, decision making, skill execution. He takes this team to another level

 

[Diehard Saint]

Well done Lions, great game...although I was pretty nervous for you with those few late misses towards the end.
Very happy for you, and if we can’t do it (pretty doubtful this year) I hope you do.

It’s time for a changing of the guard of the teams at the top!

 

[Lazza16]

What did u say Mr Cornes....lions won't make the finals this year?

 

[zorkoooooooooo]

Bit late to the party here so probably repeating what others have said but WOOOOOWWWWWWWWW WOW WOW WOW

F&$k yes us. Have you ever been prouder of this club??

For all us loyal fans, who have endured that entire stretch of Richmond terror spanning across this entire millennium

All those seasons of failure, thinking we might be turning the corner... 0-6 season starts, notch a few wins after the bye, who we got next? 9th placed Richmond at the Gabba? 53 point spanking you reckon? Coooooool.

ITS OVER. OVER!!!! I now genuinely hope we make it to the big dance and get to do it all again. F$&k that club. Arrogance before the ball was bounce, right through to Damien hardwicks DISGRACEFUL press conference after the game.

There’s no over playing it. That was hands down our best win since the 2003 premiership. How f$&king good did that feel?

 

[blackpowerlappin]

Magnificent!!

3rd qtr 2001 gf
2nd qtr 2020 qf

The 2nd qtr last night was the defining qtr of football. Resilience, pressure, wrestling back the ascendancy and then finishing off the key moments.

That was the difference from last year to now.

On the next one now!

 

[pOleK]

Have to say though, one of the many highlights of the night was when BRUCE hyped up Dusty saying "HE LOVES THESE" to I think bring the margin to 6 and it was met with a shank out on the full. Cousin was on the floor laughing and nearly chucked his guts on the floor

 

[Macca225]

Best chant in footy

 

[chopperduck]

LIONS!! LIONS!! LIONS!! LIONS!! LIONS!!

 

[Cockliff38]

Aside from the obvious and winning a flag, beating Richmond and winning a final were our last hurdles. No matter what happens this year, truly think this team will be unstoppable over the next few years

 

[AFLQLD]

It would be easy to underplay Lester’s role last night and his role in the team generally but he is emblematic of the exact transformation it takes to get to the top.

Three years ago he was making up the numbers until someone better came along to replace him. Since then he has been in and out of the team, sometimes out for long stretches. But he learnt and developed, probably worked as hard as anyone in the comp during the COVID shutdown and came back a stronger and wiser version of himself. He has absorbed everything he could from Hodge and found roles to play that the team needed.

He is still too slow and too small and not the best kick and doesn’t always get a clean handball out and he can fumble under pressure. He is getting towards the back end of his career. He will never be a star. He has received a grand total of one Brownlow vote up to this year. He will eventually be replaced in the team by someone bigger or faster or flashier.

And yet he is exactly the sort of player that teams need in their 22 to win premierships - team first, loyal, hard working, constantly learning, willingly sacrifices his own game for the benefit of others, dogged and determined, courageous in the most understated way.

Every successful team needs its stars, but every successful team needs some Ryan Lester as well.

 

[Tom14]

We really, really missed Rich, Birch and Lester (not to mention Stef and McStay) in round 10. Our ball movement was light years different with rich and birch back whereas earlier in the year all we did is bomb it down the line.

Aside from the win that’s one of the most pleasing things - we clearly adjusted our game plan such as by holding 6 forwards and dizzy following dusty up to stoppages at half forward and it payed off. Feels like the Tigers didn’t take a single contested intercept mark which they did repeatedly the last 3 times we played.