Review Round 15, 2021 - Brisbane Lions vs. Geelong

[LongLion]

Keidean did not get a heap of it but he did some really nice things tonight. Certainly justified his selection.

I loved the balance of our backline tonight. Just had the tools to answer each challenge and cover when things did not go quite right.

Yeah,
I was thinking Matho in for the bigger body with Coleman missing out but Coleman deserved his pay this game

 

[Gadzorks]

We became members in 2009, so night's like last night where we smash a touted premiership contender have been a long time in the making. And it's awesome too watch. Absolutely no doubt from five minutes in. Boys are awesome.

I think I'm certifiable though, cause I still think the miracle on grass, which was a win against the tide, was more fun.

Guess I'm just an underdog supporter. Might have too adopt the suns as a second team.

 

[harvester]

I hope Dev gets a rising star nomination for this round

 

[lionsrules]

Hi Joel

 

[crows dude]

May we have Cameron and Lyons back.
Please
Seriously though you guys are my flag favorites

 

[Back2Back2Back]

My play of the day is still that 45m precision drill from Rich to Zorko, an equally precise 45m drill from Zorko to McCarthy and a goal from the 50m arc.

*chefs kiss*

 

[spotthedog1]

Anyone else find the "hoodoo" narrative grating last night? No idea what was up with that. We beat them not that long ago, and we would've beat them already this year except for an umpiring error. I wouldn't have said we're their bunnies even before this match. Just one of those stupid commentator narratives.

Also, love the crowd booing Jeremy Cameron. Never let him live down his dog act on Harris.

 

[M Malice]

Dev has gone past Matho with a rocket, I love Matho's team first ethos and hunger to succeed but I think this will be his last season with us unless he is willing to stay on as a purely depth player, can't see him being even considered for a spot in the seniors unless Lyons or Neale are out injured.

 

[LongLion]

Dev has gone past Matho with a rocket, I love Matho's team first ethos and hunger to succeed but I think this will be his last season with us unless he is willing to stay on as a purely depth player, can't see him being even considered for a spot in the seniors unless Lyons or Neale are out injured.

In the last qtr Dev still looked as fresh as the 1st qtr. Agree. love Matho but he is now good depth player only.

 

[Quigley]

Yeah,
I was thinking Matho in for the bigger body with Coleman missing out but Coleman deserved his pay this game

If you have a look at the game you can also Coleman was open and unused a lot last night. He got himself into some very nice positions and his running overall was better than any other AFL game I have seen him play.

Robertson worked his butt off over the game and put a lot of physical pressure on. He has a bit of an unusual gait but I thought he also showed more pace than I had given him credit for. He showed some good composure with the ball and overall his skills were pretty good. A very nice game from him.

One of the main differences for me between this game and the Melb game was the defensive workrate of the midfield and in particular Neale. Against Melb there was no defensive run from him and that hurt us a lot. This game he was regularly popping up where the ball was and there was not the gap in the defensive set up that there was against Melb. I hope this game sets the standard going forward.

 

[briztoon]

There’s regret on the Cats board for passing on Dev, I can’t recall the circumstances but sucked in to them anyway

That drafted a local big bodied mid from the Falcons that missed his top age year, then reached for project tall with their second first round pick.

 

[Quigley]

In the last qtr Dev still looked as fresh as the 1st qtr. Agree. love Matho but he is now good depth player only.

Matho has always been a depth player for us really. The difference this year is that I actually think he is a very good depth player who would get a game for most other teams in the competition. He has improved a lot this year and whilst I am glad we are good enough for us to be able to have him as our 23rd player I do genuinely feel bad for him. He has done the work and made himself into a very solid player.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

Dev has gone past Matho with a rocket, I love Matho's team first ethos and hunger to succeed but I think this will be his last season with us unless he is willing to stay on as a purely depth player, can't see him being even considered for a spot in the seniors unless Lyons or Neale are out injured.

I actually feel for that reason he should stay, and get rookied or something. He's a really good player to hold onto for depth and is consistently killing it in the VFL.

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

I thought if we lost we might be regarded as flat track bullies. Well, we were bullies ALL night. Won every quarter.

There was lots of discussion on Bigfooty pregame on how to keep Stewart quiet: McStay possibly playing a lockdown role, etc.. I thought Geelong's decision to play him on Cameron was stupid. We didn't need to worry. As stupid as not locking down on Rich who must be All Australian this year.

Those of you who reckon Joe can't ruck: he got one hit out, so you may be onto something.

We have an anti Hawkins cream that comes in an attractive (my wife's opinion) bearded package.

Looking at the stats we probably lost the midfield battles (just) but we murdered them at either end, all night. Their multiple goal kickers were a wingman and a half back flanker. New derrinalphil rule: 'If a back flanker is your top goal kicker you are going to lose, badly'.

Another rule: 'Paine must play'. Get games into him

 

[Brett C]

Was the Linc free correct? He did slide but he wasn’t the one initiating contact

I thought it was a free against Linc, the Geelong player couldn't get out of the way and the rule doesn't talk about initiating contact.

 

[Brett C]

I had another one on top of the bizarre decision ladder, it led up to what I think was their 2nd goal in the 3 goal run they had in the 2nd quarter.

Bouncedown after a Cats goal, ball goes up Big O and Ratugolea go up facing each other, ball comes down behind Ratugolea who holds his ground and O tries to reach over and I think gets a little touch on the ball. Umpire blows a free kick for blocking, everyone at the ground and most of the players assume it's for O, but no O is penalized for the block.. WTF .

Completely agree, that was weird, Ratugolea went past the drop of the ball to stop Oscar leap so not sure how Oscar was called for that one.

 

[Brett C]

Yeah,
I was thinking Matho in for the bigger body with Coleman missing out but Coleman deserved his pay this game

They don't play even close to the same roles in the team, not sure Matho would be any good in the forward line applying pressure and chasing all night.

 

[spotthedog1]

Completely agree, that was weird, Ratugolea went past the drop of the ball to stop Oscar leap so not sure how Oscar was called for that one.

Are you guys talking about the Daniher one? Where he was called for an unrealistic attempt in the ruck? Certainly a rule I've never heard of...

I thought at the time it would've been completely realistic if Ratugolea didn't block his ability to reach the ball.

There were a couple of new rules last night I've never heard before... was an interesting game.

 

[Tom14]

 

[Ralphy2017]

I thought the 22 that ran out tonight looked as cohesive a unit in all aspects of the game as any other we have put out for a long time.

Coleman is not a high possession player but he had a couple of really nice moments that were important. Is probably vying with T Berry for that spot so will have to maintain /continue to improve his game to stay in the side. This is a good thing.

After that performance, I'm hard pressed to see how both Lester AND Birchall can both force their way back in. Madden is a unique player with speed , smarts and amazing skills for such a raw rookie. Payne did absolutely nothing wrong.

Then there is Gardiner who could yet play a role this season

On exposed form, Dev is undroppable.

And there is the admirable Matho who apart from being more than a capable midfielder, bleeds Brisbane Lions and you know will give 100% to the cause if called upon

JBez also perhaps could make a push for selection.

We have been remarkably resilient, even with the Likes of Lachie and Zorks out of the side.

With so many players pushing for selection, it might end up being a challenge for the Match Committee to work out what is our "best" 22

Interesting times ahead.

Can see Birchall playing a role in the last few H & A rounds and in the finals, but please give Madden some further games. No way should we have Birchall, Lester and Rich in the same backline, the fast teams will/have exploited the lack of pace across the half back line. Dev is 100% undroppable. I am not sure Berry (senior) is an automatic in. Thought he has struggled a little after the glandular fever

 

[David C]

Hard to pick out a top 5 so here's a top 11

Adams, Andrews, Zorko, big O, Daniher, Cameron, Neale, Lyons, Rich, Dev, McCarthy

Yeh, hard to pick five. I went with Zorko, O, Rich, Adams and Cameron. Agree with the Dev for rising star nomination.

 

[BrisVegasDru]

I thought if we lost we might be regarded as flat track bullies. Well, we were bullies ALL night. Won every quarter.

There was lots of discussion on Bigfooty pregame on how to keep Stewart quiet: McStay possibly playing a lockdown role, etc.. I thought Geelong's decision to play him on Cameron was stupid. We didn't need to worry. As stupid as not locking down on Rich who must be All Australian this year.

Those of you who reckon Joe can't ruck: he got one hit out, so you may be onto something.

We have an anti Hawkins cream that comes in an attractive (my wife's opinion) bearded package.

Looking at the stats we probably lost the midfield battles (just) but we murdered them at either end, all night. Their multiple goal kickers were a wingman and a half back flanker. New derrinalphil rule: 'If a back flanker is your top goal kicker you are going to lose, badly'.

Another rule: 'Paine must play'. Get games into him

Was thinking about the Hawkins v Adams match up, The Specimen won all 5 one on one contests. Big Tomahawk has legs like tree trunks, perhaps he has a quite understandable fear of Lumberjacks?

 

[Ralphy2017]

Who was Payne on?
I don't think Birchal can come back. That defensive unit was so good and allowed Andrews to peel off and intercept.

At the game with my sister and husband. Firstly I just enjoyed it so much. Payne was marking mostly Dangerfield and Ratugolea, but also had stints on Rohan (when starc off), Higgins and Dahihaus.

Birch maybe has a role to play come the back end of the year, but really hope we can keep the backline together, Madden had 4 games and Payne 9 games in total. Give them as much exposure as possible, and sure whilst they will make mistakes, but moving forward for next year and beyond the experience will be invaluable.

 

[Ralphy2017]

Yeh, hard to pick five. I went with Zorko, O, Rich, Adams and Cameron. Agree with the Dev for rising star nomination.

Agree loved the game of Dev

 

[dlanod]

What about when one of our guys chased down one of them, then another, then another, then ANOTHER. Must have been Maddening for them ba-dum tish.

Just watched that play. I was trying to figure out where the tackler in the third tackle had come from, only to see it was Madden again!

And then Dev winning the ball by standing over it with strength and tapping it out to advantage was the cherry on the top.