ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #1
Date - Saturday, August 8th
Time - 4:35pm
Venue - Gabba
Weather - 22° Mostly sunny
Preview by Ironmonger
It has been a frustrating and confusing season for Queensland football.
There's something quite fitting about the AFL deciding ad hoc to experiment with four umpires for this game, because both clubs right now seem like the end result of listless tinkering by the AFL without a really clear idea of what's to be done with them
After high hopes five months ago, both teams will prop up the ladder and will need a big turnaround to get near the finals next season. Injuries have hit hard, but there's no getting away from the fact that the Suns and the Lions have been very disappointing by any standard.
There's usually some sort of forced posturing in the media between the two clubs ahead of the uninspiringly named Q-Clash, and so far that's been mercifully absent, but it does ram home how hard it is to get excited about Brisbane and Gold Coast in 2015. The horse is dead. Why flog it?
You could even argue that it would be better for either team to lose this game and get the first choice of draftees.
With Ablett missing for the Suns, and Beams for the Lions, the players to watch on Saturday will mostly be the promising kids.
The newest rising star nominee, Harris Andrews, has been one of the most exciting things about the Lions' season. Liam Dawson will be looking to back up from a strong performance last week. Jono Freeman had one or two good moments in his first game for the year.
Miller and Saad have been revelations for the Suns this year, while Lonergan, Kolodjashnij and Matera have shown some better form in the second half of the season.
So the year doesn't need to be a total write-off for either team, and this game gives both sets of kids the chance to step up against opponents that hopefully they'll be battling against in many derbies to come.
And that's why I don't have any doubts about what result I want on Saturday.
After the farce that was the first game between these two teams in 2011, we had a golden run against the Suns, winning the next five matches even when we weren't playing our best footy. If you get into the habit of beating a team, it tends to become a pattern, and I'd like to see us start a pattern this weekend.
So maybe this time there's not a lot on the line. Maybe not next time either. But I'll bet that in the not-too-distant future a lot of the players out there will be in some high stakes Queensland derbies, and when that time comes I'd like them to remember that the Lions have the wood over their bastard half-brothers from down the highway, going right back to Round 19 2015.
So let's hope that Taylor, Dawson, Robertson and Mayes give Freeman and McStay plenty of supply, while Clarke, Andrews and Paparone keep it tight down back. Because if they can do that this weekend against Gold Coast, chances are they can do it again five years from now.
Go Lions and stuff tanking.
Time - 4:35pm
Venue - Gabba
Weather - 22° Mostly sunny
Preview by Ironmonger
It has been a frustrating and confusing season for Queensland football.
There's something quite fitting about the AFL deciding ad hoc to experiment with four umpires for this game, because both clubs right now seem like the end result of listless tinkering by the AFL without a really clear idea of what's to be done with them
After high hopes five months ago, both teams will prop up the ladder and will need a big turnaround to get near the finals next season. Injuries have hit hard, but there's no getting away from the fact that the Suns and the Lions have been very disappointing by any standard.
There's usually some sort of forced posturing in the media between the two clubs ahead of the uninspiringly named Q-Clash, and so far that's been mercifully absent, but it does ram home how hard it is to get excited about Brisbane and Gold Coast in 2015. The horse is dead. Why flog it?
You could even argue that it would be better for either team to lose this game and get the first choice of draftees.
With Ablett missing for the Suns, and Beams for the Lions, the players to watch on Saturday will mostly be the promising kids.
The newest rising star nominee, Harris Andrews, has been one of the most exciting things about the Lions' season. Liam Dawson will be looking to back up from a strong performance last week. Jono Freeman had one or two good moments in his first game for the year.
Miller and Saad have been revelations for the Suns this year, while Lonergan, Kolodjashnij and Matera have shown some better form in the second half of the season.
So the year doesn't need to be a total write-off for either team, and this game gives both sets of kids the chance to step up against opponents that hopefully they'll be battling against in many derbies to come.
And that's why I don't have any doubts about what result I want on Saturday.
After the farce that was the first game between these two teams in 2011, we had a golden run against the Suns, winning the next five matches even when we weren't playing our best footy. If you get into the habit of beating a team, it tends to become a pattern, and I'd like to see us start a pattern this weekend.
So maybe this time there's not a lot on the line. Maybe not next time either. But I'll bet that in the not-too-distant future a lot of the players out there will be in some high stakes Queensland derbies, and when that time comes I'd like them to remember that the Lions have the wood over their bastard half-brothers from down the highway, going right back to Round 19 2015.
So let's hope that Taylor, Dawson, Robertson and Mayes give Freeman and McStay plenty of supply, while Clarke, Andrews and Paparone keep it tight down back. Because if they can do that this weekend against Gold Coast, chances are they can do it again five years from now.
Go Lions and stuff tanking.
