ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #1
Date - Sunday, August 3
Time - 1:10pm
Venue - Etihad Stadium
Weather - 14° Partly Cloudy
Preview by ZoBlitz
The Opposition
Now, if you know me at all you know that one of my favourite coaches of all time is Paul Roos. There's nothing more indicative of Australian Rules Football than teams not scoring goals. And Roos is one of the masters of coaching teams that don't score goals. Who didn't enjoy the 2005 Sydney Premiership where Sydney were the third lowest scoring team in the entire league? I don't know about you, but that's what gets me excited.
Since pulling up stumps from Sydney, Paul "The Messiah" Roos has come to "resurrect" the Demons. How has he done? Well Melbourne have won four games this season beating sides that would have won if they kicked straight (the four losing sides kicked 10.17, 9.20, 9.13 and 7.16). Still, a much improved effort over the last couple of years with an increased focus on games where neither side scores many goals. Melbourne have only had 100 points scored against them three times this year compared to the 19 times it happened last year (with the lowest against score from last year being 90).
I haven't had a chance to see much of the Demons this season (probably too busy watching Freo games) but I do know that Dom Tyson and Bernie Vince have been great pickups for Melbourne this season. Add to Nathan Jones continuing to do what he does and James Frawley playing his heart out so he can get picked up by a side that's closer to a premiership and you can see that it's not all doom and gloom for the Demons.
Last week Melbourne almost pinched it from an out-of-sorts Port and that shows that they can be a very dangerous side and shouldn't be taken lightly. Their record at Etihad is about as shocking as ours so we'll be on equal footing for this one. Will the extra week's break give them any advantage?
Our Lot
Well, after a few weeks of getting close but struggling to put the points on the board, we finally come out firing in the first quarter and turned pressure into points. While the Gold Coast weren't "up and about" early, our pressure didn't make it easy for them to get into the game at all. We destroyed them in the first quarter and won comfortably in the end. It was actually our eighth best performance in terms of points scored in the first quarter in Brisbane Lions history.
Hanley gained more than a kilometre worth of territory during the game and Rocky was picking up possessions all over the place. Martin was dominating in the ruck, Zorko was zipping away from stoppages and Greeny was putting goals on the board. I could basically mention the whole team here as it was a very solid team performance.
Can we continue on from this performance? Well I feel we've been playing some good football in patches the last few weeks with little reward and I hope that the fact that we were able to put it all together last week will spur on the guys. While our record at Etihad isn't great and we are facing a side that's had an extra week's break, our recent record against Melbourne has been pretty good with the Lions winning the last four games although the Demons haven't been the more deadliest of opponents in that time.
The Game
The games should be a tight, contested affair with plenty of exciting stoppages and riveting defensive play. Our line breakers of Hanley and Zorko will have to be on their game to try and break through the wall of the Melbourne defence. We'll also need to be efficient in our entries inside 50 and take our chances which has perhaps been one of our weaknesses in recent weeks. Hopefully our defence can keep up its solid form of the last few weeks. I'd say I'd like to see Martin fire up against his old team but I'm not sure how much better he could possibly be playing?
The farewell to Browny in Melbourne should provide the final element of inspiration to get the Lions over the line, Lions by 8.
Time - 1:10pm
Venue - Etihad Stadium
Weather - 14° Partly Cloudy
Preview by ZoBlitz
The Opposition
Now, if you know me at all you know that one of my favourite coaches of all time is Paul Roos. There's nothing more indicative of Australian Rules Football than teams not scoring goals. And Roos is one of the masters of coaching teams that don't score goals. Who didn't enjoy the 2005 Sydney Premiership where Sydney were the third lowest scoring team in the entire league? I don't know about you, but that's what gets me excited.
Since pulling up stumps from Sydney, Paul "The Messiah" Roos has come to "resurrect" the Demons. How has he done? Well Melbourne have won four games this season beating sides that would have won if they kicked straight (the four losing sides kicked 10.17, 9.20, 9.13 and 7.16). Still, a much improved effort over the last couple of years with an increased focus on games where neither side scores many goals. Melbourne have only had 100 points scored against them three times this year compared to the 19 times it happened last year (with the lowest against score from last year being 90).
I haven't had a chance to see much of the Demons this season (probably too busy watching Freo games) but I do know that Dom Tyson and Bernie Vince have been great pickups for Melbourne this season. Add to Nathan Jones continuing to do what he does and James Frawley playing his heart out so he can get picked up by a side that's closer to a premiership and you can see that it's not all doom and gloom for the Demons.
Last week Melbourne almost pinched it from an out-of-sorts Port and that shows that they can be a very dangerous side and shouldn't be taken lightly. Their record at Etihad is about as shocking as ours so we'll be on equal footing for this one. Will the extra week's break give them any advantage?
Our Lot
Well, after a few weeks of getting close but struggling to put the points on the board, we finally come out firing in the first quarter and turned pressure into points. While the Gold Coast weren't "up and about" early, our pressure didn't make it easy for them to get into the game at all. We destroyed them in the first quarter and won comfortably in the end. It was actually our eighth best performance in terms of points scored in the first quarter in Brisbane Lions history.
Hanley gained more than a kilometre worth of territory during the game and Rocky was picking up possessions all over the place. Martin was dominating in the ruck, Zorko was zipping away from stoppages and Greeny was putting goals on the board. I could basically mention the whole team here as it was a very solid team performance.
Can we continue on from this performance? Well I feel we've been playing some good football in patches the last few weeks with little reward and I hope that the fact that we were able to put it all together last week will spur on the guys. While our record at Etihad isn't great and we are facing a side that's had an extra week's break, our recent record against Melbourne has been pretty good with the Lions winning the last four games although the Demons haven't been the more deadliest of opponents in that time.
The Game
The games should be a tight, contested affair with plenty of exciting stoppages and riveting defensive play. Our line breakers of Hanley and Zorko will have to be on their game to try and break through the wall of the Melbourne defence. We'll also need to be efficient in our entries inside 50 and take our chances which has perhaps been one of our weaknesses in recent weeks. Hopefully our defence can keep up its solid form of the last few weeks. I'd say I'd like to see Martin fire up against his old team but I'm not sure how much better he could possibly be playing?
The farewell to Browny in Melbourne should provide the final element of inspiration to get the Lions over the line, Lions by 8.