Review Round 8, 2024 - Brisbane Lions vs. Gold Coast

[buttermuffs]

McCluggage 32 possessions (14 contested), 4 tackles, 7 marks, 600m gained. 3 votes in any other game really. Interesting to see some were disappointed with him!

9 clearances as well which was the top for the team. Had a perfectly good performance.

 

[Nathan Barley]

I swear I've seen or heard about our club testing hamstring strength. Not sure if it was someone recovering from an ACL

 

[haystark]

9 clearances as well which was the top for the team. Had a perfectly good performance.

He had a lot of the ball and that bullet pass to Morris was sublime, but some of his disposals were not up to the level of someone wanting $1mil+ per year.

 

[buttermuffs]

I did a bit of a Cam Rayner watch last night and here are my main thoughts. With 16 disposals, 8 contested possessions, and 5 clearances I think he did really well inside. The main issue I found (and only counting the first half since injuries gassed everyone) is that he just stops and jogs on defence when the ball is lost. If it’s not within 5-10 metres he was a bit too casual when some defensive running would have been really desired.

I’m hugely in favour of him getting midfield minutes but this is probably the biggest problem he faces right now and I’d say the big reason why he doesn’t find the ball as much either. There’s plenty of ball to have down back after an intercept but those opportunities aren’t there when he only gets it on the attack. Not sure if it’s his tank or not but I’d love for him to put in those efforts even if it cuts his time in the midfield by half.

Also it won’t happen especially with the injuries but I’d say it would be really good to learn this specifically in the reserves. Having a couple games with full midfield minutes and some expected defensive running would probably be really beneficial. A lower pressure environment and all just to really work through it.

 

[Denno]

I doubt it'll get mentioned, but I reckon this was up there with the Melbourne win for a coaching master class (putting aside the injury carnage that came thereafter).

• Zorko back to HB was the right move;
• Dunkley to Rowell (who, I have to add, is disappointingly getting more leeway on HTB decisions, a-la Judd/Buckley/Dangerfield, already, this early in his career);
• The lowering of the eyes which not only gave us better shots on goal (that we didn't take, admittedly), but completely took Andrew/Collins/Ballard out of the equation in terms of intercept marks. Big tick for this;
• Backing Payne to go with King (to free Andrews up)

Other random thoughts:

• Shoutout to Big O. Witts has taken the honours more often than not over the preceding years, but Witts was a complete non-factor (which set our midfield up to get on top);
• Great to see Lohmann build each week. He's a natural forward (with X-factor), but to see him work back defensively was great;
• Sharp getting an extended run can only be good for him now (and allowing Berry to play on-ball at times gives us another option - was good again last night). Sharp himself wasn't bad at all;
• McKenna was a little better, but I thought he still coughed it up a bit. Hopefully better again after a few more weeks;
• Does Darcy Wilmot ever get caught? (another really good game - love to see him launch a goal soon!);
• Harris Andrews simply MUST be AA again (and FWIW, I think his disposal is seriously underrated, also)

Considering the injury carnage, I don't think anyone would have held it against us if ran out of puff and lost, but to win like that was mighty satisfying. Just hope it wasn't a dead cat bounce!

 

[p4p1]

I liked Fletchers game as well. He wasn't a standout but it was a really solid, workman like AFL standard performance. I expect him to go onto bigger and better things but I'm really happy to have a 20 year old putting in that kind of performance.

 

[Dalions]

McCluggage 32 possessions (14 contested), 4 tackles, 7 marks, 600m gained. 3 votes in any other game really. Interesting to see some were disappointed with him!

Disappointed with his disposal, certainly not his effort.

 

[MSB ROYS]

Also 96% or 95% TOG, unbelievable given he’s playing on ball. He was absolutely gassed.

Re McCluggage. Agree, he could have been better with the ball but he got it 31 times that GC didn't and gave everything for the team as per the TOG.

 

[dlanod]

It’s a good laugh but I hope the club learns from this and makes sure at least one emergency only plays half a game of the VFL and also requires them to bring their basics if something happens.

I believe Fort only played a half in the reserves as part of planning, but not sure what changed - maybe the Starcevich injury forced a reconsideration of who the next man in was.

 

[western royboy]

Won the battle…lost the war

 

[knaf]

It’s a good laugh but I hope the club learns from this and makes sure at least one emergency only plays half a game of the VFL and also requires them to bring their basics if something happens.

Fort only played half a game in the vfl. Glad they risked Morris rather than go with two rucks

 

[braddsey]

Gardiner going out means Morris gets in next week. I feel bad for Darcy, looked like he was finally getting his forward craft together.

There was a horrible irony to Darcy’s injury. Fans had been calling for him to be moved from the forward line for weeks. Then he come out, kicks 2 goals, and does his knee.

 

[knaf]

I believe Fort only played a half in the reserves as part of planning, but not sure what changed - maybe the Starcevich injury forced a reconsideration of who the next man in was.

“Beat me by that much”

 

[Viceregal]

As per that article there were two problems - the kick to the goal scoring opportunity and the kicking of the goal. Tonight (sorry last night) we did a whole lot better on the first one which of course made the second one's failure all the more obvious ... maybe if they realise that they (as a team) will get plenty of opportunities to score there will be less mental pressure on each individual kick to be that score making it more likely to be scored?

 

[Happy_Neale]

He was shanking them left, right and centre and when we needed a goal when we were tiring, he shanked it as he often does. I am not as worried as others if we lose him IF we get a strong return. More than happy to keep him obviously, he's a genuinely high quality player and seems a great bloke as well, just not unreplaceable (in my view).

Each to their own, but I would have him as a top 5 irreplaceable player for us after Harris, Joe, Neale and Dunkley.

 

[Happy_Neale]

I thought we packed depth. I was wrong.

We have four acls ATM. Acl ruptures are clearly linked to hamstring strength.

I get that it's a landing issue and accidents happen, but strong hamstrings absorb the energy and protect.

Four at once could be viewed as a trend.

I guarantee the fitness coaches are under pressure to review hamstring strength testing and programs.

You could say the same about hamstring length, quad to HS strength ratio, ankle dorsiflexion range, vertical jump height, hip joint morphology and about 60 other ‘risk factors’ for getting an ACL. The research basically boils down to ‘some people are more unlucky than others’ which is why ‘preventative’ programs are dubious at best.

 

[knaf]

On goal kicking and Morris, I don’t think it has been mentioned that at vfl level he has demonstrated a natural and powerful kicking action. Wasn’t obvious last night in his shots on goal. Nerves obviously a factor but fatigue a bigger one in my viewing. On vfl form he kicks at least 2 out of three of his misses. Very confident he will be one of our more accurate goal kickers once he settles into the side.

 

[JasRulz63]

Lohmann and Sharp put up some impressive Telstra tracker stats last night.

Lohmann was first for total distance covered (15.8 km), second for total sprints (22) and clocked the second highest speed (31.7 km/hr). 95% TOG.

Sharp was second for total distance covered (15.5 km), second for average speed (both overall and in attack and defence) and fifth for total sprints (17). 88% TOG.

 

[Cockliff38]

On goal kicking and Morris, I don’t think it has been mentioned that at vfl level he has demonstrated a natural and powerful kicking action. Wasn’t obvious last night in his shots on goal. Nerves obviously a factor but fatigue a bigger one in my viewing. On vfl form he kicks at least 2 out of three of his misses. Very confident he will be one of our more accurate goal kickers once he settles into the side.

And when he can wear his own boots.

 

[Viceregal]

And when he can wear his own boots.

nods - you would think that that would make a difference!

Reckon he ever goes to a Lions' game again without a pair of boots in the car?

 

[Cockliff38]

We used 47 out of a possible 75 interchanges. That has to be a record in the modern era

 

[lionshine]

There was a horrible irony to Darcy’s injury. Fans had been calling for him to be moved from the forward line for weeks. Then he come out, kicks 2 goals, and does his knee.

Some players are just incredibly unlucky aren’t they? Dizz has always been a team first, terrific clubman who puts his body on the line and has copped an absolute beating physically from day dot, and all that without much love or praise. Continued throughout his career to play a selfless role as a KPD with little reward, finally gets reinvented as a forward this year, struggled a bit but arguably played his role, tonight he gets a couple early goals, the home ground is getting around him, all set for one of those rare games for him where he gets to be the star of the night and get all the love and he does his ACL.

Love Dizzy. Absolute club legend in my view.

 

[Thomasno]

It's a big issue - it's not just the hormone cycle, it's also around the ethical questions of drug trials when someone may fall pregnant, etc. Medical research has just been going "oh it's all too hard, let's assume all women are the same as men", which is a terrible idea but only in the last 5-10 years has awareness of the issue been changing and improvements being made (albeit piecemeal at the moment).

I don’t know what you’re talking about, as someone that reads a lot of drug trial papers, most of them have appropriate demographic coverage - ie if not close to 50/50, then roughly proportional to what you’d expect based on epidemiology. Recent ones, yes, but all of the landmark studies from 15-20 years ago I’ve read as well still are similar.

Trials just get around the “pregnancy” thing by saying you have to use contraceptives while on the trial as part of the conditions of signing up. There’s medications (ie not trial drugs) that are the same. One of the hallmark treatment drugs in a type of blood cancer for example is an analog of thalidomide (yes, THAT thalidomide); you’re just told very clearly that you need to use contraceptives when it’s prescribed to you.

 

[lionshine]

Hoping Sharp can string a few games together and find his feet. Looked really good last night. You can see the improvement in Lohmann after a stretch of senior games and the confidence and settlement that has given him. He is starting to flourish. On last nights evidence I dare say it may be the same result with Sharp if he gets a crack at it.

He is still only 21. Reminds me a little of Brad Hill, similar frame and runs at a high speed all game popping up everywhere.

 

[Thomasno]

Haven’t seen it mentioned here yet but Zorko last night recorded the highest fantasy score of the year league-wide by a pretty large margin…and that’s with him kicking 0.3