Review Round 19, 2023 - Brisbane Lions vs. Geelong

[Dalions]

Congrats Fletch!
Been brilliant since coming in to the team.
3rd for the club for the year, the youth is good.

 

[Tom14]

Congrats Fletch!
Been brilliant since coming in to the team.
3rd for the club for the year, the youth is good.

View attachment 1753562

Been tremendous the last 2 weeks especially against the Dees and Cats, two of the toughest tests for a young wingman.

 

[Nunez]

Been tremendous the last 2 weeks especially against the Dees and Cats, two of the toughest tests for a young wingman.

What really stands out is how calm he is with the ball. He could have three players chasing him and he doesn't look fussed at all. Just takes his time, gets the ball out and moves on. Not afraid of getting tackled either.

 

[FeastOrFamine]

What really stands out is how calm he is with the ball. He could have three players chasing him and he doesn't look fussed at all. Just takes his time, gets the ball out and moves on. Not afraid of getting tackled either.

His start to the Geelong was little bit rocky disposal wise. Really pleasing to see him steady and make another great contribution off the wing - all he needed was that goal to really seal it. Safe to say we've got an absolute gem on our hands.

 

[M Malice]

Even at this early stage matching bids for Ashcroft(Pick 2) and Fletcher(Pick 12) looking like a steal. I was expecting Will to be very good but Jaspa has been a pleasant surprise how well he has taken to senior footy.

The 3 youngest players and only teenagers on our list are damn good.

 

[Nunez]

His start to the Geelong was little bit rocky disposal wise. Really pleasing to see him steady and make another great contribution off the wing - all he needed was that goal to really seal it. Safe to say we've got an absolute gem on our hands.

He and all the team haha.

He's honestly so surprisingly good. I had faith he'd play a role and learn from the exposure, but he's clearly best 22 now and holding it without fail.

 

[FeastOrFamine]

He and all the team haha.

He's honestly so surprisingly good. I had faith he'd play a role and learn from the exposure, but he's clearly best 22 now and holding it without fail.

Completely agree. Every time he gets tested he just keeps showing class and composure far beyond his playing time. Getting the job of competing with Lachie Hunter and Ed Langdon one week and then going up against Isaac Smith the next has to be one of the most daunting two week blocks for any winger. The fact he's delivered both weeks is a testament to him and his playing capabilities. Clearly a best 22 player.

 

[captainrich]

Drummond, Corrie, Bartlett and of course Pat Garner x4 or 5















Bartlett oh man



Drummond acl was so sad too literally killed our 2010 season

 

[Tassie4ever]

Interesting to listen to Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

last night. Not a word of concession about how the Cats were thoroughly outplayed. When asked how it was they managed just 1 goal to HT he mumbled something about having a bad night. Just happened. Did concede they got a hiding around the contest.

Glad to stay below the media spotlight.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

 

[knaf]

Has a top four team ever had 3 Rising Star nominations in one year before?

incredibly positive for our future.

 

[p4p1]

Has a top four team ever had 3 Rising Star nominations in one year before?

incredibly positive for our future.

+ 3 goal of the weeks as well from those same 3 players.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Has a top four team ever had 3 Rising Star nominations in one year before?

incredibly positive for our future.

Essington had 5 in 1993

 

[Toffee Lion]

Essington had 5 in 1993

Are we becoming the baby Lions?

 

[p4p1]

Are we becoming the baby Lions?

If it means we win a premiership this year, I am OK with it.

 

[briztoon]

Has a top four team ever had 3 Rising Star nominations in one year before?

incredibly positive for our future.

Melbourne had 4 in 2021, including the RS winner.

Probably isn’t that uncommon.

 

[briztoon]

Both Richmond & Geelong had 3 in 2019.

 

[Viceregal]

GWS had eight in 2012 ... none of whom won.

 

[Grasshopper17]

One thing about the game in the first half was how phenomenal Andrews was.

Just like a brick wall, kept thumping it away from precarious situations and nearly always to our advantage.

It was interesting to listen to Jed Adcock in a recent interview talk about not just defending to stop the other team from scoring, but also focusing on positioning to help win the ball back.

The amount of times our guys have been able to rebound directly off Andrews' spoils in recent weeks has been a feature, and given its regularity I find it hard to put it down to random chance.

I think this has been a huge benefit of swapping Davis and Adcock... We're seeing both our forwards defend better and our backs attack better.

 

[martinson]

It was interesting to listen to Jed Adcock in a recent interview talk about not just defending to stop the other team from scoring, but also focusing on positioning to help win the ball back.

The amount of times our guys have been able to rebound directly off Andrews' spoils in recent weeks has been a feature, and given its regularity I find it hard to put it down to random chance.

I think this has been a huge benefit of swapping Davis and Adcock... We're seeing both our forwards defend better and our backs attack better.

Great point you raise.

I kept thinking how come Andrews can thump it 20 yards straight down the throat of one of our crumbers.

But obviously they had got to the most likely spots.

 

[Grasshopper17]

We are so much better.

Our team pressure is so much better.

Dunkley has transformed our midfield.

Our backline has gone to a new level.

Joe has become far more consistent.

We have continued to refine our front half press.

Agree with all of this. The way we are playing right now is absolutely premiership football. The way we cut off basically every attempt Geelong made to come back into the corridor was quite spectacular, on par with our ball movement against Melbourne the week prior.

I fear however it will all count for nothing given the growing issues with our last quarters. Yes, we all want to be able to sweep it under the carpet with cliches like "they're a good team, they were always going to come at us" or "we knew the game was over and we just put the cue in the rack".

But the fact is that our last quarters have been an issue all season, even last season as well, and unfortunately there appears to be a pretty strong correlation between teams who finish games strongly and teams who finish seasons strongly.

It'll be intolerable having to watch arguably the most talented playing group in the competition, combined with the best game plan in the comp, get brought undone by a lack of fitness. But I have an awful feeling that is what we're going to see.

This is my only concern I have now with the way we're playing. We literally tick every other box. No, it's not perfect all the time, but in a high intensity game played by human beings we can't ask for much more. It's infuriating that we're absolutely nailing all this really quite complicated stuff like game plans and real emotional buy-in from the whole playing group, yet the most straightforward ability to run out games doesn't seem to be there any more.

Maybe things like physical fitness and scenario training are things we sacrificed during preseason when we went to town on our defensive structure? Only so many hours in a day I suppose.

 

[martinson]

Agree with all of this. The way we are playing right now is absolutely premiership football. The way we cut off basically every attempt Geelong made to come back into the corridor was quite spectacular, on par with our ball movement against Melbourne the week prior.

I fear however it will all count for nothing given the growing issues with our last quarters. Yes, we all want to be able to sweep it under the carpet with cliches like "they're a good team, they were always going to come at us" or "we knew the game was over and we just put the cue in the rack".

But the facts are is that our last quarters have been an issue all season, even last season as well, and unfortunately there appears to be a pretty strong correlation between teams who finish games strongly and teams who finish seasons strongly.

It'll be intolerable having to watch arguably the most talented playing group in the competition, combined with the best game plan in the comp, get brought undone by a lack of fitness. But I have an awful feeling that is what we're going to see.

This is my only concern I have now with the way we're playing. We literally tick every other box. No, it's not perfect all the time, but in a high intensity game played by human beings we can't ask for much more. It's infuriating that we're absolutely nailing all this really quite complicated stuff like game plans and real emotional buy-in from the whole playing group, yet the most straightforward ability to run out games doesn't seem to be there any more.

Maybe things like physical fitness and scenario training are things we sacrificed during preseason when we went to town on our defensive structure? Only so many hours in a day I suppose.

I've thought the way we're coached and play indicates a desire to pace ourselves during games . When we get a good lead we take the foot off the gas. When it's tight and a real contest we tend to structure around hanging in there till we get opportunities to open the game up. All of that's probably admirable.

I'm just a little worried that we now have a mental thing going in the last quarters where we start trying to save the game and tighten up. Guys who have barely put a foot wrong all night start spraying it. I suppose you see it in most of the teams. Except Collingwood right now.

No idea whether it's a fitness issue. You'd hope not . I think if we had another couple of players who had the tank to be effective midfielders it might solve the problem.

 

[Grasshopper17]

We kicked 1 goal for every 6 inside 50s, the kicked 1 in 7. Both teams defended very well.

We also 9 goals 6 with 4 rushed. I suspect our expected score would be similar

Yep expected score was 66-62. So one could argue Geelong made even less of their chances than we did. Also speaks to the fact that many of our chances came from long range, wide out or under pressure. This need to generate better quality (rather than more) shots at goal is something I've touched on in recent weeks.

Then again, the opposition is allowed to defend well, so when they do we need to be able to match that, and for two and a half quarters we did so exceptionally well.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Thanks gadzorks really needed you to argue with me on that right now

To be fair, I think that's 3 ACL's across the AFL just this week. Lachie Weller redoing his as well as Nick Murray at Adelaide.

They seem to be becoming more and more common. I wonder if this is simply due to the increasing speed and physical nature of the game? It seems so odd that so many of these injuries are happening as a result of seemingly innocuous acts, just like Rayner and Hipwood's were.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Him gobbing off to the umpire at the end was right in front of us. Just sheer stupidity from him. We had the ball and there was a minute left on the clock. Just shut your mouth and play out the game. Don’t give them a chance to pay a free kick. No one to blame but himself for that.

Did you hear what he said? Behind the goals at the western end we had no idea what had happened to have the free reversed, and the TV coverage didn't shed any light on it either.

 

[Nunez]

Agree with all of this. The way we are playing right now is absolutely premiership football. The way we cut off basically every attempt Geelong made to come back into the corridor was quite spectacular, on par with our ball movement against Melbourne the week prior.

I fear however it will all count for nothing given the growing issues with our last quarters. Yes, we all want to be able to sweep it under the carpet with cliches like "they're a good team, they were always going to come at us" or "we knew the game was over and we just put the cue in the rack".

But the facts are is that our last quarters have been an issue all season, even last season as well, and unfortunately there appears to be a pretty strong correlation between teams who finish games strongly and teams who finish seasons strongly.

It'll be intolerable having to watch arguably the most talented playing group in the competition, combined with the best game plan in the comp, get brought undone by a lack of fitness. But I have an awful feeling that is what we're going to see.

This is my only concern I have now with the way we're playing. We literally tick every other box. No, it's not perfect all the time, but in a high intensity game played by human beings we can't ask for much more. It's infuriating that we're absolutely nailing all this really quite complicated stuff like game plans and real emotional buy-in from the whole playing group, yet the most straightforward ability to run out games doesn't seem to be there any more.

Maybe things like physical fitness and scenario training are things we sacrificed during preseason when we went to town on our defensive structure? Only so many hours in a day I suppose.

Not to oversimplify percentage, but we have the second highest percentage of any team, with the Pies the only team above us in that regard. While I absolutely agree finishing games better would be ideal, I don't think it's right to discount constantly being in commanding positions by 3QT.

I have faith will get our fourth quarters right in the next few weeks and really don't think it is as simple as us needing to get fitter. A bit of preservation comes into play and frankly if we can do that while maintaining a 130%, we're in a good position.