Review Round 19, 2024 - Brisbane Lions vs. Sydney

[Lion_LegacyXL]

We have had a vicious season. Key players out of form. An entire backline worth of injuries. Media ‘scandals’. Yet.. we have found some form and just managed to knock off the ladder leaders.

We have done more than found some form, currently we're the most in form team in the comp with 7 consecutive wins now.

 

[bungalow_bill]

I wouldn’t mind if Smith got another game. Got in all the right places and just was a bit too nervous to properly execute. Also when he dropped his marks he didn’t let them get the ball and run with the turnover.

I’d be fine if they decided to give him another game and back him in to improve. Also wouldn’t mind if Morris came back either.

I think Reville is our best sub option. Very good kick composed hands. His tank is probably his weakest skill (though not actually bad) so it’s not like when Sharp loses his best quality.

Brain deserves his spot, magnificent game and provides another decent intercept especially compared to McKenna. Coleman played similar in being able to get 1-2 intercept marks a game and I think we missed that with Zorko replacing him. Played a lot better with Starce back in the small defender lockdown role as well.

Haven't seen this one yet but V West Coast Brain's kicking was elite. The kick to Bailey? for a goal was exceptional. Remember the Hawks built their flag sides on drafting players with exceptional kicking skills.

 

[Lionwest]

It may have been mentioned already but on Fox: First Crack they showed a clip of the lions bench when the siren went. Fages was pumped!! He had a hug with each of lads and also was talking to Brain during their hug. Reckon ol’ Fages would have been tickled pink with his late 4th qtr efforts and told him so.

 

[Sproj]

Apparently we’ve only lost three quarters in the last six weeks, the Sydney coach said something like that. Man…we are the team to beat then.

 

[LongLion]

oscar been phenomenal since just before the bye, think his form isnt being spoken about enough with the lift it has given our midfield

Yep, Oscar is flying at the moment. Very physical ruckman

 

[McIvor]

They just said in SEN that at the 14 minute mark of the third quarter that when Heeney handed the ball to Grundy instead of the umpire that the clock stopped for 45 seconds meaning obviously that the game went 45 seconds longer than it should have due to a time keeper error…same thing happened when Hugh kicked the winning goal against Dee’s.

We may need a new timekeeper at the Gabba because he can’t do his job.

 

[dlanod]

when Heeney handed the ball to Grundy instead of the umpire

I missed that during the game - pretty sure that's established that should be a free kick from McCluggage and Greene getting pinged for it in the last year or so. :O

 

[_thelionsshare_]

Are the Swans the first team to go a couple of rotations down in a game?

I have never heard so much talk about it, they also keep saying ‘3 players down’ too - Haywood stayed on the ground and had a big impact.

‘No bench’ apparently?

 

[McIvor]

Wow; Kane Cornes is of the view that Hipwood should be suspended for a “lengthy period of time” for his tunnelling of Blakey and thinks that the MRO will suspend him and Bedford too.

Perhaps the MRO will get their Lions and Giants even though Caddy concussing someone and Maynard can again strike yet their is nothing to see.

Let’s see how bias Christian is at 5pm tonight.

 

[McIvor]

I missed that during the game - pretty sure that's established that should be a free kick from McCluggage and Greene getting pinged for it in the last year or so. :O

The free was paid to us wasn’t it?

 

[dlanod]

The free was paid to us wasn’t it?

Was watching on my phone while filling out the match report for my daughter's game, so per the comment I missed that during the game - I thought your comment meant they went Heeney > Grundy > umpire > play on, but if not good to see that one is semi-consistent.

 

[royboys4eva]

Oscar been so good last month. Also really rated Brain's game. Reads play well. Charlie well held but never stopped trying and kicked a big goal last qtr.

Rayner and McCluggage outstanding.

Thought Joey was going to kick 8 at 1/4 time!! One of these days Hopefully this week.

Bring on the little brother down the road this week.

 

[HereIGoAgain]

I'm not so down on the Smith selection. His progression in the VFL means he was due a look in and I think Fagan is starting to look ahead at coverage for the finals. The coaches strike rate with bringing in players this season cant be ignored.

As for the lad, if he is going to make it he will now be in doubt as to the standard of footy it takes to do it.

What a game to debut in and I reckon we are going to be seeing a lot of Henry Smith running around in Lions colours in the future.

 

[Dalions]

As this year progresses what we are seeing from our team is some serious resilience and professionalism and a real fight to win when we still aren’t playing anywhere near our best football.

Walked away from the game happiest with the fact that we held Sydney, the most potent team of the year so far to under 80 points.
It was a fantastic effort defensively all bar the second quarter. Sydney noticeably changed their game after quarter time and it took us a fair length of time to adjust to their changed ball movement.
But once we adjusted we got the game back on our terms and Sydney struggled to penetrate.

If we can fix up some of our terrible decision making when moving the ball forward and stop the fumbles and be a bit more composed we are in a very good spot.

Hard to imagine McKenna getting back into the team over Brain, we look a much better defensive unit without him in the team.

I would be happy to drop Henry Smith and bring Reville into the 22, with McKenna as Sub for next week.
Also Happy for Logan Morris to stay in the 2’s for a freshen up as we will need him later in the year.

Harris not in the circle for the song is a little worrying.

 

[KissKiss]

The free was paid to us wasn’t it?

It was. I was just so amused how it so cleanly happened and no players or people complained about the decision. Unlike last time it happened and it filled a week of media outrage

 

[Dalions]

Couple of potential Father Sons in these photos.
Oscars boy already looks like he is going to be a bit of a Unit like his Dad.

 

[Elixuh]

It may have been mentioned already but on Fox: First Crack they showed a clip of the lions bench when the siren went. Fages was pumped!! He had a hug with each of lads and also was talking to Brain during their hug. Reckon ol’ Fages would have been tickled pink with his late 4th qtr efforts and told him so.

Yes he ran onto the ground to hug players.

The sign of a good top tier win under fagan has always been him running onto the ground on the siren.

As Ice Cube said, it was a good day.

 

[Tom14]

Can't say enough good things about our defensive performance yesterday. Swans are averaging over 100 points per game, and we kept them to 77.

Our expected score against was in the 60s - so their accuracy helped their score look better than their attack went.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Can't say enough good things about our defensive performance yesterday. Swans are averaging over 100 points per game, and we kept them to 77.

Our expected score against was in the 60s - so their accuracy helped their score look better than their attack went.

They have 5 in the top 22 goal kickers in the AFL who combined kicked only 5 goals yesterday.

And outside of the first 3 minutes of the second when the midfield didn't show up they only kicked 8 goals

 

[knaf]

No mention of Bailey in this thread so far I think. Thought it was a reasonable game by him particularly early. Not in my best but it’s good to see the ongoing improvement.

And what do people think about the Blakey to Charlie move? I thought it strange. The Swans lost Blakey’s run, even though Charlie wasn’t dominant

 

[Nathan Barley]

No mention of Bailey in this thread so far I think. Thought it was a reasonable game by him particularly early. Not in my best but it’s good to see the ongoing improvement.

And what do people think about the Blakey to Charlie move? I thought it strange. The Swans lost Blakey’s run, even though Charlie wasn’t dominant

I thought Bailey's workrate and attack on the footy was improved. Just needs his ball use and finishing to continue to improve as well

 

[twhowler]

Wow. Took a while to digest that.

THE GOOD

Getting the Win - if we lost today we really would have been back in the muck and facing the suns away, having given our all. Can't stress how important it can be just winning sometimes. And when Harris went off i thought we were done.

Hanging in there - v Dees and now Swans, coming back from a tricky margin like that requires hanging in there mentally.

Joyce - improves every week, lost one contest that was a bit disappointing leading to an Amartey goal, but that was it

Brain - wow. This bloke just has so much composure. From his debut in a cauldron v Adelaide.

Clugga - so reliable in front of goal now. The last goal was lucky BUT how on earth did he get so much purchase on it? He barely had control!

Rayner - wow. as others have said just needs to average 18 or so and he is a weapon. makes things happen. and that tackle!

Harris - was sublime. In career-best form

Oscar - will never be an elite tap ruckman, but also career best form. Who was the bloke who thought replacing him could help us win a flag? oh that's right it was me. that handball to neale late. wow!

THE BAD

Handing back momentum - i was bracing for a second quarter correction. But that was terrible. at one stage our pressure rating was 120 which would be disappointing at training. We did manage to arrest it after about 10 minutes, but it put us on the back-foot. Without their injuries we could well have not pegged them back

Third quarter start - this was probably the most disappointing part of the game for me. They had 2 out by half time, we had a crap second quarter, i thought let's see how we start. Terribly. Both teams missed opportunities but the swans missed some very easy ones. Before Rayner's incredible goal it looked like we were blown away. I think that individual act of brilliance got us back in to the game, otherwise we were cooked.

Smith selection - i am saying this more from hindsight. He was just the wrong choice. I reckon he could definitely still make it - he is 206cm and moved quite well. Agree he needs a bit more aggression in his game and to get his hands out there for marks. But bringing in a tall debutant in that high-pressure game was always a strange one. Logan needed a spell, but as others have said Reville would have been better. Smith seemed to harm our connection.

The sub use - okay slightly fussy here. too long. Reville had an immediate impact. I thought the trigger should have been pulled at half time or at latest 5 mins in to the third. the fact the swans had 2 out already should have made it much easier. it happened what nearly 20 mins in to the third? by then we could have been blown away

THE UGLY

Harris - if there is any injury we are screwed. Even a week would make the GC game very hard to win imo.

SO WHERE ARE WE AT?

It felt very similar to the Geelong 2019 game. Behind from half time v the ladder leaders, hanging in there, just getting the win. The difference that year is we were still relatively young with almost no finals experience. So i am going to ignore the fact we then lost round 23 and both finals!

The swans had some outs from before the game and during it. If we play them in the finals they likely have back McInerney, Rowbottom, Mills, plus Papley for a full game. Not fussed about Rampe. We have only Payne to come back. And it was on our deck. So i think while a win is a win, we do need to get to a higher level. But then again so does every team from July.

Now we face yet again a huge game. Hope we are not flat. Cause it's just as hard on paper, GC at Carrara where they have not lost this year. If we lose and other games go as i expect (port lose, cats win, giants win, freo win) we are back down to 6th. Brutal year.

Freo's percentage is also getting might close to ours, only 2.8% off now. We need WCE to do us a favour this week!

EDIT i have done a ladder predictor cause why not, i decided to have us losing to GC and Giants. It gave us 7th spot, one game behind freo in third.

Seems to be the equation likely hasn't changed. If we drop 2 we are a strong chance to drop out of the 4.

If we drop 1 we are all but guaranteed.

GC and Giants really tough games. Pies and Saints banana peel areas, i reckon the pies will set themselves for it. Dons might be playing to get in the 8 in the last round. We are still right on the edge...

 

[Elixuh]

Can't say enough good things about our defensive performance yesterday. Swans are averaging over 100 points per game, and we kept them to 77.

Our expected score against was in the 60s - so their accuracy helped their score look better than their attack went.

Especially when Harris was off for the concussion protocol. Really switched on and cohesive watching it live. Playing Starc +1 deepest defender and then having Eric and O rotate back to keep the ball pressed down our end.

 

[Gadzorks]

They just said in SEN that at the 14 minute mark of the third quarter that when Heeney handed the ball to Grundy instead of the umpire that the clock stopped for 45 seconds meaning obviously that the game went 45 seconds longer than it should have due to a time keeper error…same thing happened when Hugh kicked the winning goal against Dee’s.

We may need a new timekeeper at the Gabba because he can’t do his job.

The umpires signal time on and off. So maybe Sydney's accusations of cheating umpires is correct, except the cheating was the umpires giving them an extra 45s to beat us.

 

[Gadzorks]

Couple of potential Father Sons in these photos.
Oscars boy already looks like he is going to be a bit of a Unit like his Dad.

I thought we weren't doing this anymore.