Review Round 15, 2015 - Brisbane Lions vs Sydney

[jackess]

Leppa sorta hinted its very possible Gardiner could go in for surgery to fix his shoulder. Probably wouldn't be the end of the world given we're fairly well covered for tall/third tall defenders and to allow Gardiner to get a jump start on the pre-season.

Slots back into the best 22 for round 1 next year though.

 

[carnthemlions]

I'd say the biggest difference between us & our last three opponents is the quality of the forward lines, came up against 3 quality ones & ours haven't been able to capitalise on our early inside 50 dominance.

Franklin's 3.2 was one point off being the difference between the two sides.

 

[Panthera]

Sorry can't agree with his. Plays with intensity, aggression and run. Yes was caught out by the pace in a couple of occasions, as is often the case when young players come back from injury. Prior to his shoulder he had looked with decision making.

And he's not alone in getting caught when nothing up he ground presents itself. If he had bombed long down the line to a contest well covered by the opposition then it'll come straight back. Have heard many coaches mention that players taking wrong options / too slow are often the result of their teammates not working hard enough to create options.

Nick isn't perfect yet by any means, but think you're bring a bit harsh.

Only his 17th game! Show me a 2nd year player who doesn't have faults...just impossible.

Nick is ranked an impressive 10th across the AFL in effective disposals per game (of those who are rising star eligible); ahead of Jake Lever, Daniel McKenzie, Tim Broomhead, Darcy Lang & Angus Brayshaw

 

[blueiris]

Hanley tonight showed why his our best midfielder
5.Hanley
4.Zorko
3.Rockliff
2.Beams
1.Merrett
Edit:Re-did my votes

 

[Kevvo]

Robbo had a down game today, but his disposal this season has been vastly improved on last year. I noticed at least two occasions where he had no-one ahead of him, as POBT observed, and I think he is reluctant to just boot long and make it someone else's problem. I'm pretty sure he knows he has a player on his hammer, but would rather try to bust the tackle than get burned on the rebound bashing it long. It didn't work today, but that isn't without logic.

Not sure about the Paps criticisms either. I thought he made relatively few mistakes and generally picked really good options. His kick has flattened out a lot this year. I think he is improving at a really solid rate and would take some dislodging from the 22 now.

Mayes had a solid game I thought and looked like he had regained confidence in his kick.

Frustrating to come up short again, but I like the way we are playing at the moment. We just lack that easy goalscoring option you get from a dominant key forward.

 

[Big Lion]

Our kids just need time and a bit of confidence. Robertson only has 17 games under his belt, give him time. Has plenty of go and has some pace, spacial awareness and decision making under pressure will come with experience. Judge him harder at the 50 game mark. Still not convince that Aish hasn't already left the building. His a much better player than what his showing at present. Mind seems to be elsewhere........Adelaide or Carlton maybe?

On that note can someone tell me why Aish gets a gig ahead of Lester and Cutler. His clearly not staying why bother putting game time into him anymore.

 

[James North]

A lot of pointing and talking from Merrett tonight, in addition to the brute force he brought to the side.

Structure looks much better back there now.

 

[James North]

Some good stats against a good side:

contested possessions (140 each), clearances (40 to 42) and inside-50s (54 to 55),

 

[Ironmonger]

Got a feeling that midfield is going to tear someone apart in the next few weeks. It is so very close to clicking into place. It was a real "nearly" game. Creative handballs nearly found their mark. Ruck taps nearly hitting the player bursting through. Players going left occasionally when their teammate wanted them to go right.

When these guys start to sing from the same song sheet, they will be lots of fun to watch.

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. It was exciting to see how dangerous Zorko and Hanley looked with our full complement of midfielders around them.

Tempering that slightly is that Rich didn't have much impact after the first quarter.

On a somewhat related note, extraordinary that two players had nineteen of our fifty-three tackles; Rockliff with eleven and Redden with eight. Good for those guys, not so good for everyone else.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Bourke, Staker and McStay 1 between them

 

[Robbo18!]

I must have just watched a different game than some others have described.
Our boys were valiant in defeat. I'm not celebrating losing at all, but they pushed a possible grand final contender today and played very well for 80% of the game. A team with 50% of the side in their third season and less are always going to struggle in the latter stages of the game.
Good effort boys!!

 

[Mavlions1961]

Mcstay for me either needs a shift to the backline or some time in the twos to regain form. I watched him closely tonight and Jordan Bourke looks more natural than him. I think he'll be a star but he needs to learn how to work into the game. Imo his worst game to date

Completely agree Nunez, time for McStay to go back for a couple, Staker was much better today and will be much better for the game, should have had 2 goals, if I am correct I think McStay only had 2 marks for the game and they were both on the wing.

In a perfect scenario if we could couple McStay's kicking into Bourke's general play we would have a good forward.

 

[Mavlions1961]

The knock on effect of Merrett's inclusion was significant. Clarke got to take a player further afield, Andrews didn't have to take a key forward and Paparone effectively played as a small. All played better as a result.

Merrett's first impact was exactly that, right in below us and I felt it, I will be surprised if the hit doesn't hit the highlights package. Watching the replay just now, Cam Mooney loved it.

 

[lukiuslion]

Loved the game tonight, most of all - we didn't look like victims, we came out and held our own and played with enormous purpose.. something we haven't done againts Sydney for 5-6 years.

Effort was great, I do believe they were 'coasting' to a degree. They are known for their self preservation at this time of the year, and there was a bit if that on display tonight - buddy didn't even lead up the ground hardly at all from recollection? But you can only compete againts what we the opp throws up, and the effort was great and our pressure had them struggling.

We play like that next week, we beat the Dees.

 

[BigEasyPeasy]

I know stats aren't everything but it would be interesting to see how we stack up against the competition in 'missed tackles'.

 

[carnthemlions]

Loved the game tonight, most of all - we didn't look like victims, we came out and held our own and played with enormous purpose.. something we haven't done againts Sydney for 5-6 years.

Effort was great, I do believe they were 'coasting' to a degree. They are known for their self preservation at this time of the year, and there was a bit if that on display tonight - buddy didn't even lead up the ground hardly at all from recollection? But you can only compete againts what we the opp throws up, and the effort was great and our pressure had them struggling.

We play like that next week, we beat the Dees.

Sydney do tend to coast against teams they should beat easily, but I don't think scraping a win by 20 points was what they had in mind. They played some pretty bad football at times, but they weren't just having an off day.

As an aside to that- we can be very effective at putting teams off their games and preventing them from playing the way they want to. The encouraging thing is that it's not down to manic defensive pressure or an overly conservative mindset. I think it's sustainable and it could take as a long way. We just need to get it right for longer periods every week.

 

[a mayes ing]

Not quite sure why we are dropping off at 3qt time. Yeah it is a young side, but the midfield is very experienced, they should still be running and trying to create options. Didn't necessarily think that we dropped off this week at 3qt but the last 2 we definitly did.

 

[Elixuh]

Im not overly concerned with the drop offs yet given the opposition its happened against. If it continues against lesser opposition will become a worry.

I actually don't think we necessarily dropped off that much against Freo. Class and experience won out. Was improved upon this week with the inclusion of some experienced bodies for us.

 

[lukiuslion]

Sydney do tend to coast against teams they should beat easily, but I don't think scraping a win by 20 points was what they had in mind. They played some pretty bad football at times, but they weren't just having an off day.

As an aside to that- we can be very effective at putting teams off their games and preventing them from playing the way they want to. The encouraging thing is that it's not down to manic defensive pressure or an overly conservative mindset. I think it's sustainable and it could take as a long way. We just need to get it right for longer periods every week.

Hmmm.. I actually kinder disagree with parts of that. Did you watch the pies vs port game? It was electrifying football. We are playing what I would describe as just a rolling scrum, we are pretty much blanketing the entire game and have been for the last month. It actually has led to 'terrible' almost unwatchable games of football, I
Kinder hope this isn't the 'brand' of sustainable footy we are after. Yes we move the ball through the middle with some flare for periods of the game, but more often than not we just bomb the ball aimlessly to no one up the wing because all our players are back and are not running back the other way hard enough, and we have no forward structure as a result.

This sort of footy we are playing is preservation footy of the highest order and leads to terrible games, but I'm cool with it, as if we just 'play', we lose by 80 points.

When teams like Sydney get caught in the scrum, which we are doing well, and should be commended for, I still think (whilst we did force them to a degree) they were kinder just doing enough to win. I agree a 20 point win was not what they had in mind, but Longmire didn't even have a bad word to say, just said "sometimes you just have to win" - I feel there was an element of pure coasting going on.

It's not to take anything away from our boys, I am damn proud - it's just If anyone thinks the dockers or the swans don't have 2-3-4-5 levels more of intensity they could have gone to earlier in the game then they are kidding themselves. Longmire and Lyon are kings of looking ahead to September and In a way, unfortunately, we are probley looked at as the virtual bye ATM.

 

[karix]

Mcstay for me either needs a shift to the backline or some time in the twos to regain form. I watched him closely tonight and Jordan Bourke looks more natural than him. I think he'll be a star but he needs to learn how to work into the game. Imo his worst game to date

I think it's hard to blame any forwards when our exit from defence isn't very orderly. Yes we get out, but it often had a few false starts and some messy skills which forced a change in direction or slowed down the play so that the swans had time to get back and fill the space.

I'm not saying McStay is perfect, far from it, but most of his faults are inexperience rather than any other deficiency and just don't think the QAFL is going to help him learn and develop any instinct for when he has to lead and how often he has to lead to get enough opportunities to kick goals. I think he needs a big preason to work on his tank so he can run defenders off their legs and to develop his core strength.

 

[Mavlions1961]

Re McStay, inexperience is a factor, I just feel he needs to work a bit more on his game, having said that our whole forward line with the exception of Staker is very inexperienced and whilst McStay does have a good leap, he needs to improve his lead out skills, I think Bourke is a little better in this area, with Freeman having his first game back in the reserves, one would hope he gets up to speed quickly and does provide another marking option in the forward line.

Another problem McStay has also is teams have wised up to his strong areas and are marking him much closer, Grundy was on him most of the day yesterday.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

I don't think they were coasting, if so then for terribly long. They were constantly pushed wide, rarely ran through the corridor, kicked out on the full numerous times, duffed easy shots on goal, and on several occasions we forced them backwards into a holding pattern - one point we pushed them from the centre to 15m from our own goals. That doesn't happen when coasting.

 

[Ceebee]

Don't mind watching us play the ultra defensive game against top sides.
They obviously have more experience and class than we do.
If playing as we have stops these teams from.belting us.that's ok.
Winning will come eventually.
Would rather be in the game for over 3 quarters .than being out of it in the first.

 

[lukiuslion]

I don't think they were coasting, if so then for terribly long. They were constantly pushed wide, rarely ran through the corridor, kicked out on the full numerous times, duffed easy shots on goal, and on several occasions we forced them backwards into a holding pattern - one point we pushed them from the centre to 15m from our own goals. That doesn't happen when coasting.

Yeah I still think our effort, given the talent and experience differential was sensational. I just think that the swans can also effortlessly coast againts us and Win by 70 points too. We did push them wide, we clogged up there forward half and had every player around the ball the entire time. I still think that Sydney didn't really show much heightened intensity, or desperation at many stages even though it was close. But we can agree to disagree on that though, lions were still awesome, just don't think we saw 50% of what Sydney are capable of.

Mooney kept saying "watching big bud and he is just coasting guys" - then when he needed to ice the game he puts on a mini clinic.

 

[lukiuslion]

Don't mind watching us play the ultra defensive game against top sides.
They obviously have more experience and class than we do.
If playing as we have stops these teams from.belting us.that's ok.
Winning will come eventually.
Would rather be in the game for over 3 quarters .than being out of it in the first.

Agreed. the only way to go against top 4 sides at our stage of development, good coaching and a vast improvement on results against the same teams last year.