Review Round 16, 2022 - Brisbane Lions vs. Western Bulldogs

[Gadzorks]

Whatever the medicos say the time has now come for Zorks to get himself 100% right and not play him until he is.

He's been patched up all year and it's getting too late in the season to risk him being 70-80% in big games.

The way he took himself off with what he's described as a precautionary slight niggle indicates tat g=he was aware of something there in the first place.

Yep.
Zorko gets selected knowing that he is carrying an injury, as many players are.

Gotta think his selection last night was a poor choice, understandable, but he'll be out for longer now.

 

[beardancer]

Jerry was BOG in my opinion, Best big man on the ground....split decision Andrews/Payne. Note to Daniher. Please stop putting your hand in the air as a ruckman then not even contesting the ruck.
Prior had a fantastic game, it looks like he's growing into his body...couple of strong marks, shrugged tackles, good speed.
AhChee, awesome, the footballers footballer.
Dan.......stinker....but rucked well
Linc......excellent
Charlie...looked switched on.
Joe.....the usual combination of brilliance and junk......mainly junk.
Oscar....just needs to be more positive.....get in first.....don't react to the oppo ruck....let him adjust to your strong play. A lot of our second half is down to Oscar becoming more assertive as Sweet dropped off in the second.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Yep.
Zorko gets selected knowing that he is carrying an injury, as many players are.

Gotta think his selection last night was a poor choice, understandable, but he'll be out for longer now.

Wouldn't think of playing him until at least round 20 against Richmond at the MCG. He's been half injured all season so far. The next month of games are very winnable so there should be no need to risk him.

 

[McIvor]

Was a really enjoyable night after a long drive down. First Q was a bit worrying but wasn't overly concerned as I thought we outplayed them.

Linc wasn't in my best 5 but his tackling and work rate was simply outstanding and superior to just about anyone else on the ground. Kiddy Coleman has truly arrived if he hadn't already.

Lastly, Callum and Jaxon should be in the team every week. Not sure why they were dropped in the first place, but they were excellent last night particularly Jaxon when he came on - at least it was a positive with Dayne coming off.

Safe to say I was wrong about James T. Acquitted himself really well and another exciting young man coming thru at the club.

Last night reminded us of the enjoyable 2019 season - hopefully we have more like it this year.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

I think we got the green with the umps.

Not sure it was convincing more so just happy to get some things right. Goal kicking a massive issue which is completely the opposite from the first half of the season. Needs to be fixed.

Andrews had his best game for a long time.

Joey is Joey and he missed a couple that he should get, and then he snaps one around his body , later on, go figure.
Those misses hurt, lucky for us the Doggies were having the same trouble.
I know a few here still a bit down on Hippy , thought he did well.
Busted a tackle and went through the other side, strong bust.
As well as that a couple good marks up the ground and most importantly he has a pretty good set shot now, feel confident when he lines up.
I guess the only dissapointment , if you can call it that is he appears to have lost a bit of muscle especialy around the shoulders , might be wrong.
He still looks like he is playing strong , all the same.
If Mcstay can get involved and our smalls play like they did, getting up the ground and defending and add to our exiting the defensive 50 plus kicking goals, brilliant contested marking we can be very hard to beat.
Charley and Linc need to step up and get involved , that game was perfect .

Edit, sorry tagged the wrong post in should of been McIvors straight above mine, not yours Milux.

 

[Squizz89]

I’ve been on record as saying I’m one of the ones who has run out of patience with Lyons although I do feel a bit sorry with the criticism he’s copped a bit lately. He has been good for us all things considered for a number of years, and considering we paid nothing in trade or draft capital it was a bloody good deal.

The time is nearing though where he just can’t play through the middle especially at centre bounces, as teams have identified his deficiencies as an easy out for them.

The problem for Jarryd though is that if he can’t play on ball he really doesn’t have a role in the team given he can’t be utilised elsewhere.

 

[Quigley]

Our midfield continues to be a problem area against the better sides. The Bulldogs were far superior in the contests. Much cleaner and they got it to a receiver in better position much more easily than the Lions did. Our midfielders did however work much harder this week to put pressure on and this paid off. We still fell off too many tackles but the pressure did cause quite a lot of turnovers and gave our backs time to set up and compete.

One of the biggest changes this week from the rest of the year was how good our disposal was in the back half. All the usual offenders actually used the ball very well. Answerth and Andrews went at 100%, Payne over 90% and all the other backs over 75% including Adams (who was the low guy but still went at 75%). Being safe coming out of defense helped our transition a great deal.

I loved how hard our small forwards worked tonight. A prime example was in the second half when we were under a lot of pressure deep in defence and the Bulldogs kicked it to the open side. Cleaning it up for us 25m out from our own goal were Charlie and Linc. They had worked their butts off to get that far back and save a goal and then set us up moving forward. That kind of effort really lifts the team.

On some of the players:

Prior - probably his best game. Worked really hard and covered a lot of ground. He was actually able to find the ball tonight which makes it so much easier to keep him in the side.

Ah Chee - had a very nice game. Every 5 or 6 games he pulls out a game like this and everyone gets excited. If he could play like this 5 games out of 6 rather than 1 game out of 6 I would be much higher on him. Still he was very good last night.

Payne - really solid at the back both offensively and defensively. His size balances our defence and I think is a reason Andrews is starting to find some form again.

Coleman - great game. When Rich went off he became the playmaker coming out of defense and he was excellent. His delivery into forward 50 is elite and the more we can get it into his hands the better we will be.

Rayner - again showed some good strength over the ball in contests and is a point of difference for us when he goes inside. He needs to work on his short burst defensive speed when playing on ball though. There were quite a few times when the ball was in his area and he just let it go rather than working to shut it down. Still I like his development this year.

Charlie - his effort was high all game and that resulted in him being BOG. Good both offensively and with his defensive pressure. When he is up and about like this he is the best small forward in the competition.

Lyons - looked to be working as hard as he could defensively and the team was better for it. I have been a critic of his and the issues his lack of pace causes but credit where it was due last night.

Answerth - was solid yesterday but did not do anything that impressed me overly. Personally I would still prefer to look at others but he is pretty good defensively and if he is not turning it over by foot he will be hard to drop.

Tunstill - was good for the first three quarters I thought. Worked up and down the wing, linking well and helping the ball transition nicely. His kicking has been the thing I have been most concerned about but last night it was actually good with him making a few very nice passes. Physically he handled things nicely and was not afraid to throw himself into a contest.

Berry - just worked his butt off. Still a bit scrappy and not the cleanest but his work rate made up for that. Certainly one of our best and picking up a couple of goals rounded out a very good game from him.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Was a really enjoyable night after a long drive down. First Q was a bit worrying but wasn't overly concerned as I thought we outplayed them.

Linc wasn't in my best 5 but his tackling and work rate was simply outstanding and superior to just about anyone else on the ground. Kiddy Coleman has truly arrived if he hadn't already.

Lastly, Callum and Jaxon should be in the team every week. Not sure why they were dropped in the first place, but they were excellent last night particularly Jaxon when he came on - at least it was a positive with Dayne coming off.

Safe to say I was wrong about James T. Acquitted himself really well and another exciting young man coming thru at the club.

Last night reminded us of the enjoyable 2019 season - hopefully we have more like it this year.

Agree 100% with all of that.
Prior , I think gives us that pressure that we have been missing this year.
Just on James , had some very important disposals/kicks in our relay up the field , which is very promising.

 

[lioninthesand]

Our midfield continues to be a problem area against the better sides. The Bulldogs were far superior in the contests. Much cleaner and they got it to a receiver in better position much more easily than the Lions did. Our midfielders did however work much harder this week to put pressure on and this paid off. We still fell off too many tackles but the pressure did cause quite a lot of turnovers and gave our backs time to set up and compete.

One of the biggest changes this week from the rest of the year was how good our disposal was in the back half. All the usual offenders actually used the ball very well. Answerth and Andrews went at 100%, Payne over 90% and all the other backs over 75% including Adams (who was the low guy but still went at 75%). Being safe coming out of defense helped our transition a great deal.

I loved how hard our small forwards worked tonight. A prime example was in the second half when we were under a lot of pressure deep in defence and the Bulldogs kicked it to the open side. Cleaning it up for us 25m out from our own goal were Charlie and Linc. They had worked their butts off to get that far back and save a goal and then set us up moving forward. That kind of effort really lifts the team.

On some of the players:

Prior - probably his best game. Worked really hard and covered a lot of ground. He was actually able to find the ball tonight which makes it so much easier to keep him in the side.

Ah Chee - had a very nice game. Every 5 or 6 games he pulls out a game like this and everyone gets excited. If he could play like this 5 games out of 6 rather than 1 game out of 6 I would be much higher on him. Still he was very good last night.

Payne - really solid at the back both offensively and defensively. His size balances our defence and I think is a reason Andrews is starting to find some form again.

Coleman - great game. When Rich went off he became the playmaker coming out of defense and he was excellent. His delivery into forward 50 is elite and the more we can get it into his hands the better we will be.

Rayner - again showed some good strength over the ball in contests and is a point of difference for us when he goes inside. He needs to work on his short burst defensive speed when playing on ball though. There were quite a few times when the ball was in his area and he just let it go rather than working to shut it down. Still I like his development this year.

Charlie - his effort was high all game and that resulted in him being BOG. Good both offensively and with his defensive pressure. When he is up and about like this he is the best small forward in the competition.

Lyons - looked to be working as hard as he could defensively and the team was better for it. I have been a critic of his and the issues his lack of pace causes but credit where it was due last night.

Answerth - was solid yesterday but did not do anything that impressed me overly. Personally I would still prefer to look at others but he is pretty good defensively and if he is not turning it over by foot he will be hard to drop.

Tunstill - was good for the first three quarters I thought. Worked up and down the wing, linking well and helping the ball transition nicely. His kicking has been the thing I have been most concerned about but last night it was actually good with him making a few very nice passes. Physically he handled things nicely and was not afraid to throw himself into a contest.

Berry - just worked his butt off. Still a bit scrappy and not the cleanest but his work rate made up for that. Certainly one of our best and picking up a couple of goals rounded out a very good game from him.

Prior also adds a bit of fire, always getting into oppo, but his play backs it up. Reckon he is auditioning for the Robbo role, I just like him. Tough, strong over head, big boot, works hard, no fear. We need his type.

 

[Quigley]

Prior also adds a bit of fire, always getting into oppo, but his play backs it up. Reckon he is auditioning for the Robbo role, I just like him. Tough, strong over head, big boot, works hard, no fear. We need his type.

One thing that needs correcting though is his slowness to get rid of the ball after a mark. He hangs onto it for way too long and allows the defence to recover. In open play he is better but after a mark he is very slow.

 

[snooplions]

good win at home. Enjoyed it and will relish the replay.. but the only thing that will give me any further hope for a premiership this season is to beat Richmond at the G. If we can’t. Then forget even being competitive with Melbourne there.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

At the game , how good is it when we score and they play the song, the lights dim down a little.
Very intimate.

 

[KissKiss]

Spotted Berry Senior after The game and congratulated him on his boys game. He is a very proud dad.

Troy is a good man. Done very well in raising his sons. Always impressed how many games he gets to

 

[KissKiss]

Caught a little bit of a radio interview of Linc on SEN this morning. Was interesting to hear him talk about how our straight ball movement has become too predictable. Teams have figured out how to defend it too easily. So we're tinkering the movement and I think we saw that especially when Coleman took over the main distribution role. Teams were defending where Rich would normally go long down the line and Coleman wasn't playing the same way

 

[SizeMatters]

What will we do about Lyons? He's best 22 but only as an inside mid.... however he doesn't fit well with our current midfield unit these days nor the modern game.

 

[Thomasno]

Caught a little bit of a radio interview of Linc on SEN this morning. Was interesting to hear him talk about how our straight ball movement has become too predictable. Teams have figured out how to defend it too easily. So we're tinkering the movement and I think we saw that especially when Coleman took over the main distribution role. Teams were defending where Rich would normally go long down the line and Coleman wasn't playing the same way

Coleman’s kicking was elite, some absolute bullet passes there

 

[Lionwest]

Coleman’s kicking was elite, some absolute bullet passes there

Not being at the ground I find it hard to fully assess the penetration he gets on his kicks. However, what is is abundantly clear on the TV is his vision and the touch on his kicks, that's pure talent.

 

[Voss the boss]

One thing that needs correcting though is his slowness to get rid of the ball after a mark. He hangs onto it for way too long and allows the defence to recover. In open play he is better but after a mark he is very slow.

Maybe his mentor is Harris Andrews - he never moves the ball on quickly - frustrates me no end!

 

[Pride of lions]

Rayner is hugely talented but has to really lift his game at centre clearances. On several occasions last night he basically stood and watched the Bulldogs run past him without making any effort to tackle. He really needs to lift the defensive part of his game,including two way running before he can be considered a true midfielder imo. When he gets possessions he can be very damaging but just doesn’t get enough of it. I wonder if giving him a run off the half back line might be an option for him.

 

[Milux]

Joey is Joey and he missed a couple that he should get, and then he snaps one around his body , later on, go figure.
Those misses hurt, lucky for us the Doggies were having the same trouble.
I know a few here still a bit down on Hippy , thought he did well.
Busted a tackle and went through the other side, strong bust.
As well as that a couple good marks up the ground and most importantly he has a pretty good set shot now, feel confident when he lines up.
I guess the only dissapointment , if you can call it that is he appears to have lost a bit of muscle especialy around the shoulders , might be wrong.
He still looks like he is playing strong , all the same.
If Mcstay can get involved and our smalls play like they did, getting up the ground and defending and add to our exiting the defensive 50 plus kicking goals, brilliant contested marking we can be very hard to beat.
Charley and Linc need to step up and get involved , that game was perfect .

Edit, sorry tagged the wrong post in should of been McIvors straight above mine, not yours Milux.

No harm.

On hipwood though. How people expect a 200+cm young player to come out firing after the worst sports injury (in terms of length of recovery) a footballer can do. It's not as if he was Lance Franklin pre injury either.

 

[Brett C]

He has had 7 games now and hasn't had a kick and I am worried his knee has ruined him.

I hope I am wrong but I an starting to worry that he may never get back to where he was.

I’ll assume you’re exaggerating by saying he can’t get a kick as he’s averaging 10 possessions a game which is right on his career average.

He worked incredibly hard last night making a lot of long leads which you won’t see by just watching on TV

He was up and about last night and if he keeps that workload up the goals will come.

 

[Brett C]

Anyone notice McStays game? He did not want any body contact, it was horrible, he looked checked out.

Looked like a guy who knows his pay day awaits and doesen’t want an injury.

If he is truely gone, which tbh I’d be surprised with, I thought he would stay, then I do not want to carry him playing like he has the last 2-3 weeks.

I’m not talking about dropping him because he is leaving strictly, I doubt fages would do that, but we can’t carry him in a 3 tall set up, on form, playing like that.

I am also now firmly in the ‘he can go’ camp, he doesen’t do enough, often enough, to warrant a big contract. Rather spend that coin elsewhere, god knows we need it.

Sometimes I truly doubt the intelligence of some posters.

 

[Brett C]

Was a really enjoyable night after a long drive down. First Q was a bit worrying but wasn't overly concerned as I thought we outplayed them.

Linc wasn't in my best 5 but his tackling and work rate was simply outstanding and superior to just about anyone else on the ground. Kiddy Coleman has truly arrived if he hadn't already.

Lastly, Callum and Jaxon should be in the team every week. Not sure why they were dropped in the first place, but they were excellent last night particularly Jaxon when he came on - at least it was a positive with Dayne coming off.

Safe to say I was wrong about James T. Acquitted himself really well and another exciting young man coming thru at the club.

Last night reminded us of the enjoyable 2019 season - hopefully we have more like it this year.

Thought Prior had his best game which is a great effort as the sub. As prepared as you can be he wouldn’t have expected to be on after 5-10mins

 

[Jarryd Lyons Burner]

What will we do about Lyons? He's best 22 but only as an inside mid.... however he doesn't fit well with our current midfield unit these days nor the modern game.

Nothing to do with the fact I am his burner account... but I like pouring through stats:

• Neale is ranked #1 in the AFL for contested possession, our next best is Jarryd at #25...After that is Glug at #46. For context, the demons have 4 players ranked in the top #30 (Oliver, Gawn, Viney, Trac)
• Jarryd is ranked #17 in the AFL for goal assists, leading the Lions (we lead the league in efficiency going into I50). His kicking in space has improved, his disposal in tight is not so good.
• Jarryd is ranked #7 in the AFL for clearances, #1 in centre clearances

I think he is copping it unfairly. No doubt he is down on 2021 form in terms of contested possessions (13 CP to 9), but his clearance work is pretty much identical. His defensive work isn't the best, but it was never a strength of his game.

We seriously lack depth in the contest, particularly in our midfield. I'm not surprised to see Lyons walk out of contests, he's been shouldering a lot of that work across the last two years. It was good to see Fagan throw Berry in there this week and I hope it continues.

 

[Brett C]

Not being at the ground I find it hard to fully assess the penetration he gets on his kicks. However, what is is abundantly clear on the TV is his vision and the touch on his kicks, that's pure talent.

Hard to describe but he never seems to need to hit the ball 100%, as you said I thinks because of his vision and touch which a A+.

His 50 metre kicks are effortless and perfectly weighted