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5. Crunching hit sets up a fiery affair
You knew it was going to a be a tough affair when it started raining at the Gabba, given Sydney's reputation as a contested ball team and Brisbane's growing confidence at home. Lions hard nut Mitch Robinson relished the conditions and kick-started a fiery affair when he crunched Dan Hannebery with a massive bump in the first quarter. Hannebery shook it off to play out the game but it set the tone for several spot fires throughout the match.
And, in another piece of statistical artistry in Saturday’s game against the Sydney Swans at the Gabba, Mitch Robinson has bettered a Club icon for a place in the Lions' record book.
Robinson’s record-breaking effort was in contested possessions. And although not quite on the same competition-wide level, it was equally significant given the mark it bettered. Robinson had 26 contested possessions against the Swans.
The previous best by a Lions player since this statistic was introduced in 1999 was Simon Black’s 25 in an effort that won him the Norm Smith Medal in the 2003 Grand Final.
In one of the great all-time big-time performances in the game’s history, Black that day had a career-high 39 possessions, plus a team-high nine clearances and nine tackles. And he kicked a goal in the Lions’ 50-point win over Collingwood that completed the premiership hat-trick.
Only six Lions players have had 20-plus contested possessions in a game. Black hit this mark seven times to lead Tom Rockliff’s five. Robinson now has done so twice to equal the effort of Beams, while Zorko and Luke Power have one game of 20+ contested possessions to their credit. The top five are:
26 – Mitch Robinson (2018)
25 – Simon Black (2003)
23 – Tom Rockliff (2016)
22 – Dayne Zorko (2014)
22 – Tom Rockliff (2014)
There have only been 11 single-game performances above Robinson’s 26 contested possessions in a game in AFL history. The all-time record was set only two weeks ago, when North Melbourne’s Ben Cunnington had 32 against Richmond in Round 8. This bettered the previous best of 29, set by Patrick Dangerfield when playing with Adelaide in 2015, and Sydney’s Josh Kennedy in 2014.
Robinson also had a career-best 13 clearances against the Swans, topping his previous best of 10 to go with 35 possessions and seven tackles. His highest possession count in what is now 158 games is 39.
Meanwhile, Mitch Robinson will miss three weeks after breaking a toe on his right foot during the match against North Melbourne.
TASSIE boy Mitch Robinson says the ‘hoodoo” for visiting teams to York Park no longer exists and the Hawks are beatable. The Lions have already knocked over Hawthorn once this year and believe the key to repeating the dose is to get off to a good start. Hawthorn’s reputation and record at York Park has made their Tasmanian base a fortress but Robinson insists the venue holds no fears for the Lions.
The Lions are one of the few sides to beat Hawthorn here in the past decade but Robinson says there was no need to talk about history to encourage the players to dream of an upset. “The last couple of years they haven’t been that big successful club that they have been here with past players who have moved on,’’ he said. “We see a chance to win a game. “You can’t go into a game thinking they are unbeatable at a stadium otherwise you will go out there with that mindset.
“We are every chance of winning, we are looking forward to a good start and will go from there. “We haven’t really spoken about the past, we’ve spoken about the fact they are beatable here and there’s not that hoodoo everyone thinks there is.’’
On a personal note he is pumped up by the opportunity to play in his home state. “I love coming back, to play in my home state is a really big thing for me,’’ he said. “I’m really passionate about where this state is going and where it has been.’’
2. Robinson's clamp
Seeing Joel Selwood blanketed by Demon James Harmes last week, the Lions deployed hard-nut Mitch Robinson on the Cats skipper. It worked to full effect in the first half, Selwood held to just eight disposals, even spending time at half back during the second term in an attempt to shake Robinson. Robinson moved to Gary Ablett to start the third quarter, the Geelong superstar adding just seven disposals to his 21 touches in the first half. With the game slipping away, Robinson moved forward for the final term, Ablett surpassing 30 disposals for the ninth time this year to finish with 38.