Review Round 1, 2021 - Brisbane Lions vs. Sydney

[25 years on]

Two things disappointed me last night first, we were comprehensively beaten by an exciting team. Two, I hate, kick and hope football, it’s not pretty or exciting to watch, even if we win it always looks as if we are lucky. I know it’s asking a lot but I want us to win because we kick better, pass better, mark better, run better, and in general are the better team and give us supporters the confidence to know we will win.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

It’s not the rule change that matters as much as how quickly teams adapt to it that counts.

I just don't like it. The player with the kick already has the advantage of having an unimpeded kick, and with this rule change they are now making signifncant movements before the umpire calls anything. The player on the mark has to stay completely still, else they give up 1/3 of the field length in another penalty. They aren't overstepping the mark, and sideways movement doesn't impact the kicker's ability to take that kick. The punishment just doesn't fit the crime here, and to be honest the crime is stupid in the first place. What's left to do though? Do we need to now have a player in that section of the field stand on either side of the protected zone to reduce the chance of sideways movement? Or is the counter tactic to just flood the next zone downfield?

 

[Scubaveg]

We lost game 1 last year

We’re likely to lose game two this year as well.


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[Johnny Bananas]

I reckon Andrews lost more 1v1 contests last night then he did all year,

He really looked out of sync. I distinctly remember two intercept marking opportunities that he would have snaffled last year, but he fumbled both of them last night and Sydney pounced.

 

[LionsMaw]

Don’t get salty about it. The swans outplayed us pure and simple. Throwing in childish jabs to a remark that had no malice in it is just childish.

Well played swans.


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The swans didn't outplay us. We simply stopped trying so how about you go lecture yourself for being a condescending plonker?

 

[25 years on]

I just don't like it. The player with the kick already has the advantage of having an unimpeded kick, and with this rule change they are now making signifncant movements before the umpire calls anything. The player on the mark has to stay completely still, else they give up 1/3 of the field length in another penalty. They aren't overstepping the mark, and sideways movement doesn't impact the kicker's ability to take that kick. The punishment just doesn't fit the crime here, and to be honest the crime is stupid in the first place. What's left to do though? Do we need to now have a player in that section of the field stand on either side of the protected zone to reduce the chance of sideways movement? Or is the counter tactic to just flood the next zone downfield?

I don’t like it either, but it exists so we must learn to play with it.

 

[martinson]

I just don't like it. The player with the kick already has the advantage of having an unimpeded kick, and with this rule change they are now making signifncant movements before the umpire calls anything. The player on the mark has to stay completely still, else they give up 1/3 of the field length in another penalty. They aren't overstepping the mark, and sideways movement doesn't impact the kicker's ability to take that kick. The punishment just doesn't fit the crime here, and to be honest the crime is stupid in the first place. What's left to do though? Do we need to now have a player in that section of the field stand on either side of the protected zone to reduce the chance of sideways movement? Or is the counter tactic to just flood the next zone downfield?

Interesting points.

The facts are they were dynamite in how they utilised the advantage with the guys upfield seeming to know where it was going and our backline half not believing that it would go there , and we didn't seem to get any advantage out of it at all ,just playing our usual game , and not that well.

So I think there'll be some in depth analysis that probably started today.

 

[Daniels Riches]

All credit to Sydney - they smashed us tonight and we really did look second rate.

The most glaring thing for me out of last nights game was the lack of leadership. No one put their hand up and said ‘Follow me boys.’ Zorks should be pretty disappointed with his lack of discipline and needs to be a better role model than that. Andrews looked a bit lost, as did Neale. Those 3 in particular need to really bring their A game next week.

It’s a very even competition and if it takes us 2-3 weeks to find our mojo and blow out the cobwebs, then it could be an uphill battle to claim a top 4 spot.

Hoping and expecting a big improvement in regards to attitude and pressure against the Cats.


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[Daniels Riches]

While I am extremely disappointed at losing it does amuse me that swans fans are acting like they won because their team are elite rather than because we played badly.

What a silly comment and I doubt whether anyone on this board would share those sentiments. You are generalising the whole Sydney supporter base. I’ve found most of my Swans mates to be pretty humble over the years and NONE of them would consider their team to be elite. They were simply the harder and more discipline team on the night. Try learning to lose graciously and give credit where credit is due.


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[Hollow Knight]

While I am extremely disappointed at losing it does amuse me that swans fans are acting like they won because their team are elite rather than because we played badly.

The whole “you didn’t win it, we lost it” stuff comes off as pretty salty and arrogant to be honest. And we copped a lot of it from supporters of other clubs as we started to improve and take some scalps.

I don’t think any Swans fan is claiming their team is elite. We were absolutely off our game but they definitely did a job on us last night as well. They deserve to feel good about it.

 

[Section 5]

We were outplayed last night by a younger team that wanted to get to the ball first.
They outplayed us in just about every area that mattered.
The new standing the mark rule was adapted far better by Sydney than us.
They constantly gave the kicker a lead up the ground which they regularly marked.
The Lions consistently had no one dropping into the holes to try and cut off any leads. Need to adjust zoning part of game plan
The Lions on the other hand did what they did the last few years.
Running sideways, indicating and running to get the ball over the back, standing still for the little chip kick to retain possession. Then bombing it forward to our 3 tall forwards, four if Oscar drifts down. Then hoping for a mark or for Charlie & McCarthy to crumb and goal
This resulted in only 5 Lion marks inside 50 to the Swans 23.
Uncontested possession will also be an indicator of the new rule but not necessarily the only one that determines results
For this game the Swans had 209 to Lions 155
In the Dogs game it was huge Dogs 304 to Pies 180
Hawks 251 to Ess 236
Demons 223 to Dockers 203
Two winners so far that lost the uncontested possession count Tigers 216 to Blues 225 & Crows 174 to Geelong 218
Be interesting to see how the remaining games trend

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

I hope Fagen absolutely rips into the playing group on Monday and Zorko steps up as leader and has serious conversations with the boys on how much they want it. Last night wasn't a one time anomaly, we're at the point where we could potentially crash and burn and fall back into obscurity like we've been the past decade or this loss could hopefully set us back into gear. The one silver lineing I see after last night was that we had awful starts in our premiership seasons.

 

[Bjorn Again]

The Nobes effect ... I expected it to take a bit longer than round 1 though. It took a whole year at the Crows.

 

[youneverknow22]

I'm shocked that Fagan lets Zorko behave the way he does. As a lions fan, he comes off as an unlikable person who behaves like a child when things don't go his way. How is Fagan even letting this slide? No player should act like that, let alone our captain.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Feel bad for Daniher & Sharp. They played their first actual game for the club and were apart of the handful of guys that ultimately gave a s**t.

 

[Ralphy2017]

Can't believe this happened after we blitzed Hawthorn in round 1 last year.

First round in 2020 at the MCG, Hawthorne beat us by over 28 points.

 

[luthor]

Ely Smith has earnt the right to play seniors now. He comes in for Mitch. Gardiner who we badly missed last night if fit comes straight in for Bitchall. Adams for Payne and free up Harris.

That's a bit unkind.....or a typo

Either way......LOL!!!

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

First round in 2020 at the MCG, Hawthorne beat us by over 28 points.

Pretty sure he was being sarcastic

 

[MacMum]

The Nobes effect ... I expected it to take a bit longer than round 1 though. It took a whole year at the Crows.

That has been my concern from day 1 of learning he was going.

Fages/Nobes were a team. Hardwick/Leppitch were a team.

e.g. Richmond were just starting to come good when Leppitch left to coach us, they went backwards again. When Leppitch finally went back to them again they started winning flags. Will be interesting to see how they go now Leppitch has left again..

Dynamics have changed for both teams. We'll see, happy to be wrong and just a worry wart.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

What was the crowd number ?

 

[youneverknow22]

That has been my concern from day 1 of learning he was going.

Fages/Nobes were a team. Hardwick/Leppitch were a team.

e.g. Richmond were just starting to come good when Leppitch left to coach us, they went backwards again. When Leppitch finally went back to them again they started winning flags. Will be interesting to see how they go now Leppitch has left again..

This was obvious. Fagan himself said he's not a tactician. He leaves the people around him to make the decisions, while he conveys it to the players. He's an excellent man manager coach, but he needs strong people around him. If he doesn't, then we will only fall back. Noble was a huge loss and now it seems like he might be the brains behind the whole operation.

 

[youneverknow22]

What was the crowd number ?

22k

 

[Mr Ripper]

As lioninthesand mentioned: Bailey was exciting with his three goals, but there was a concerning amount of "how good am I?" selfishness about his game. Hope he learns from it.

 

[Ceebee]

Emotional guy comes in the package

Our tackling was well down especially considering they had most of the ball . We couldn't seem to get close enough to stick tackles.

It was a bit frightening how good some of their youngsters looked.

You would be pretty happy if you are a Swans fan, they played faultless footy .

 

[Billy Bob65]

Commiserations on the loss.

Here are the midfield frequency stats from the game - I didn't post these last season, so if you've never seen them before, these are how often each of your players were lining up as one of the 5 mids (inside + wing) at bounces.

Overall Summary - 36 Bounces

McCluggage 32 wing
Neale 30
Lyons 23
Robinson 22 (18w, 4i)
Sharp 20 wing
J.Berry 18 (2w)
Bailey 12
Zorko 10
Cameron 10
McCarthy 3

Rucks

McInerney 28
Fullarton 5
Daniher 3

Centre Clearance
Neale 4
Lyons 4
Cameron 3
Big O 2
Zorko 2
Bailey 1
Coleman 1
Robinson 1
McCluggage 1

By Quarter - Q1

McCluggage 5 wing
Neale 5
Robinson 5 wing
J.Berry 5
Bailey 4
Lyons 2
Sharp 2 wing
Zorko 1
McCarthy 1

Q2

McCluggage 10 wing
Neale 10
Lyons 9
J.Berry 7 (2w)
Robinson 6 wing
Sharp 6 wing
Zorko 6
Bailey 5
Cameron 1

Q3

McCluggage 11 wing
Neale 9
Lyons 7
Robinson 6 (5w, 1i)
Sharp 6 wing
Cameron 6
J.Berry 4
Bailey 2
Zorko 2
McCarthy 2

Q4

McCluggage 6 wing
Neale 6
Sharp 6 wing
Lyons 5
Robinson 5 (3i, 2w)
Cameron 3
J.Berry 2
Bailey 1
Zorko 1