Preview Round 22 Preview: Brisbane v Geelong

[MacMum]

The "Great" BT written us off....reckons we'll be shown up in the next 2wks and we've had the easiest draw of all time.

..get stuffed BT, you're just a loud mouth with nothing of note coming out of it.

Our boys will be taking care of business as usual, you wait and see.

 

[M Malice]

This under rating of us and our form this season is baffling. The record-

1- Beat highly rated Giants and Power in consecutive road trips.
2- Clean sweep v Hawks and their super coach, one in the Launceston fortress.
3- Thrashed the reigning premiers.
4- Best winning streak(8) of the season and still going.
5- Beat media darlings the Bulldogs convincingly recently.

Although I love flying under the radar, I wonder what the excuse/reason will be if we dispatch the Cats on Saturday afternoon.

The difference in the rating of us and the Dogs is stark, they may not even make the 8, anybody would think they are THE team to beat.

 

[Dalions]

This under rating of us and our form this season is baffling. The record-

1- Beat highly rated Giants and Power in consecutive road trips.
2- Clean sweep v Hawks and their super coach, one in the Launceston fortress.
3- Thrashed the reigning premiers.
4- Best winning streak(8) of the season and still going.
5- Beat media darlings the Bulldogs convincingly recently.

Although I love flying under the radar, I wonder what the excuse/reason will be if we dispatch the Cats on Saturday afternoon.

The difference in the rating of us and the Dogs is stark, they may not even make the 8, anybody would think they are THE team to beat.

Oh yes! But they have just flogged Essendon?
Even although they only limped over the line against GC weeks earlier!
So the doggies are on fire

 

[seanthelion]

afl.com.au preview has us winning by 17 points and their big call is that we'll be the first team in 2019 to kick 100+ against the cats. I'm feeling pretty positive about this one.

 

[3KZ is Football]

As former Geelong coach Mark Thompson told a young Geelong team back in 2004 (before their home match against Brisbane, having not beaten Brisbane since the mid-90s), "we will beat them sometime in the future, might as well be today".

Past playing history can evaporate very quickly. Just ask the Brisbane team of 2001 when they beat Essendon at the Gabba in round 10.
Dangerfield and the rest of the Cats can be confident of past performances but this will be a different Brisbane team they will face from the past teams they've played.

It'll be a great game on Saturday!

As a historian, I quite like a bit of history, but the result on Saturday will be determined by the performance of the players on the field, not by past performances. Simply put, we are the stronger team and we are playing better football than Geelong. Expecting a great game, but one that we win quite easily in the end. Lions by 30 or so points seems about right.

 

[Toffee Lion]

Think we win comfortably, crack 100 and become the Premiership favourites. All in one afternoon.

Go the Lions!

 

[Lazza16]

Most game days I read on here quite a few posters saying I hope we will win or I am nervous but I think the other team will just pip us. How is this different to the negativity reported on here to a so called expert selecting the opposition? There are some "experts" raving about us.

 

[Tom14]

Yep.

This actually isn't the biggest test we've had this season. Winning or losing this game doesn't mean anything more than the results against GWS, Port, Western or Hawthorn. Geelong are top of the ladder by dint of their form in the first half of the season, which really doesn't mean much now.

The result of this game might determine if we get a home final in week one, so that's obviously very important. But there's no deeper symbolic or psychological meaning here. Whether we win or lose won't make us fundamentally more or less capable of beating top four teams in September.

Next week probably has more meaning purely by virtue of the fact that we don't get the chance to play at the MCG often.

 

[Milux]

Most game days I read on here quite a few posters saying I hope we will win or I am nervous but I think the other team will just pip us. How is this different to the negativity reported on here to a so called expert selecting the opposition? There are some "experts" raving about us.

Only thing I hope for now is anything but a s**t the bed performance.

 

[Lionheart182]

Can't believe Witho has only played 50 games and McStay only 100! Still yet to reach anywhere near their prime as footballers.

 

[bungalow_bill]

The first few episodes yes. I would class it as Sci-fi with some humour. Still available on SBS on demand from Season 1.

All of the Treks are Sci-Fi with humour - Q is always good for a laugh. Perhaps the Orville leans more towards humour while the Treks lean more towards serious Sci-Fi?

 

[Lazza16]

R.I.P. Polly Farmer.......one of the greats

 

[Dylan12]

The result of this game might determine if we get a home final in week one, so that's obviously very important. But there's no deeper symbolic or psychological meaning here. Whether we win or lose won't make us fundamentally more or less capable of beating top four teams in September.

Agreed, although you can already predict the narrative across all the various AFL mediums if we do lose to Geelong; that we're not real contenders, haven't beaten anyone, have been found out etc. etc.

 

[Ironmonger]

Agreed, although you can already predict the narrative across all the various AFL mediums if we do lose to Geelong; that we're not real contenders, haven't beaten anyone, have been found out etc. etc.

It'll just blow people's minds if we lose to Geelong and beat Richmond.

 

[JoshM]

Been going to Lions games since 2009, and have been through many dark Winters. Just enjoying the ride this year. As for our soft draw, it's no different to the bottom-six draw that Richmond had in 2017. I'm confident about Saturday against the Cats.

 

[Viceregal]

Yep.

This actually isn't the biggest test we've had this season. Winning or losing this game doesn't mean anything more than the results against GWS, Port, Western or Hawthorn. Geelong are top of the ladder by dint of their form in the first half of the season, which really doesn't mean much now.

The result of this game might determine if we get a home final in week one, so that's obviously very important. But there's no deeper symbolic or psychological meaning here. Whether we win or lose won't make us fundamentally more or less capable of beating top four teams in September.

Except that these two games are not so much to test our skills but to test our mettle / mental fortitude. Can our team maintain their process on the big stage when the pressure and expectations are high ... in the historical cupboard are the Pies and the Dons early on and we blew it ... now we get to make amends and prove to ourselves that we deserve to be where we are. Fail horribly these two weeks and a magical recovery in finals is ... unlikely...

 

[mpal6]

The "Great" BT written us off....reckons we'll be shown up in the next 2wks and we've had the easiest draw of all time.

..get stuffed BT, you're just a loud mouth with nothing of note coming out of it.

Our boys will be taking care of business as usual, you wait and see.

Very happy to take all the writing offs and undermining, keeps us under the radar and with no expectations.
This is in Gabba as well, we'll take care of them.

 

[MacMum]

R.I.P. Polly Farmer.......one of the greats

Yes he certainly was. Its a very sad day.

RIP Polly

 

[Lazza16]

Yes he certainly was. Its a very sad day.

RIP Polly

I remember as a young lad.... the excitement going to the ground to see him and other Geelong stars play my humble beloved Lions.

 

[chopperduck]

Reckon it is going to be super important to take our chances this week. Cats aren't a massive scoring team, but often limit their opponents well. If we can break through and score i think we will get over them. Probably means our game style of territory battle is going make contested ball and clearances very important. Winning clearances and contested footy, especially post clearance contested footy = meters gained. Cats also haven't been good at playing a front half game where we have been executing that well.

If we lose too much contested ball and/or clearances we might struggle to 'move the chains' to borrow an NFL terminology.

Im still actually pretty confident vs the cats, i just think our style of play is better than theirs.

 

[Ironmonger]

Except that these two games are not so much to test our skills but to test our mettle / mental fortitude. Can our team maintain their process on the big stage when the pressure and expectations are high ... in the historical cupboard are the Pies and the Dons early on and we blew it ... now we get to make amends and prove to ourselves that we deserve to be where we are. Fail horribly these two weeks and a magical recovery in finals is ... unlikely...

I don't really agree.

For one thing, it wouldn't be a magical recovery in finals. Teams have poor games all the time and recover; West Coast lost to an injury hit Collingwood a few weeks ago and came back strongly. The Hawks were poor against North and imperious against GWS.

Our calibre as a team is at least as well demonstrated by the last 8 weeks as the next 2.

'Mental fortitude' is impossible to quantify, and I don't think it's necessarily demonstrated by winning games like this week. Particularly when Geelong aren't really going that well, and we're playing in the familiar environment of the Gabba on a warm Queensland afternoon.

I don't think we'll fail horribly. If we do, then I guess that's a challenge. But the Collingwood loss didn't kill our season. Our loss to Carlton would have been humiliating for the group, but it was followed by eight consecutive wins. It seems as though we're capable of dealing with the occasional poor performance.

EDIT: I get what you're saying about the big stage. I just don't think it's as big a deal as some others do. If it is an issue, then we'll get over it at some point, and it probably will feel like magic. If we can't get over it on Saturday, maybe we get over it in round 23, or maybe in week 1 of the finals.

Maybe we actually got over it in round 1 this year, and the loss to Collingwood had more to do with adapting to the five day break than anything else.

 

[chopperduck]

It is a perfect opportunity to not only test ourselves against other top teams but also get in some big game experience before finals. Will also provide valuable experience against 2 teams we are likely to meet during the finals. If we beat both Cats and Tigers we will go into finals full of confience and belief. If we lose i think it gives a really good chance to learn and adjust before coming across them again a few weeks later. I dont think a loss to either or both will dent our confidence, i think we have a super mature group and every time we have been challenged or caught out they respond.

 

[lioninthesand]

This under rating of us and our form this season is baffling. The record-

1- Beat highly rated Giants and Power in consecutive road trips.
2- Clean sweep v Hawks and their super coach, one in the Launceston fortress.
3- Thrashed the reigning premiers.
4- Best winning streak(8) of the season and still going.
5- Beat media darlings the Bulldogs convincingly recently.

Although I love flying under the radar, I wonder what the excuse/reason will be if we dispatch the Cats on Saturday afternoon.

The difference in the rating of us and the Dogs is stark, they may not even make the 8, anybody would think they are THE team to beat.

Add to that winning 4 of 6 games on the road as part of the streak. I noticed on AFL360 last night, almost all top 4 teams have been similarly 'unchallenged' of late interms of top 4 opponents. Since round 6 Cat's have had Dons, North, Dogs, Suns, Swans, tigers, Port, Crows, Dogs, Saints, Hawks, Swans, Dockers, North, US then have Carlton for the last game. Not exactly a very tough last 10 games of the year? When they faced the Tigers they were down on form, if you want to get analytical about it, their draw has been better than our by a stretch.

That's 6 double up winnable games in 16 weeks against North, Dogs and this years Swans. Their draw is an absolute monty.

 

[Requiem]

Bulldogs, Richmond?

Both teams had prior finals experience as a group.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Add to that winning 4 of 6 games on the road as part of the streak. I noticed on AFL360 last night, almost all top 4 teams have been similarly 'unchallenged' of late interms of top 4 opponents. Since round 6 Cat's have had Dons, North, Dogs, Suns, Swans, tigers, Port, Crows, Dogs, Saints, Hawks, Swans, Dockers, North, US then have Carlton for the last game. Not exactly a very tough last 10 games of the year? When they faced the Tigers they were down on form, if you want to get analytical about it, their draw has been better than our by a stretch.

That's 6 double up winnable games in 16 weeks against North, Dogs and this years Swans. Their draw is an absolute monty.

Next year we'll probably have to play the Pies Geelong Richmond and Eagles twice while only playing the Hawks Suns and Blues once