Preview Round 1: Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans; Saturday March 14 @ 7.10pm AEST

[Big Sauce 21]

One thing we do suck at is tribunal nights. Would be looking to recruit

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Harris had a look ,saw him and whacked him. Obviously he had no intention of hitting him in the head but seeing he concussed him I don't really see any way out.

Is the force he swings his arm severe ? Would class it lower than low

 

[gapwedge0]

One thing we do suck at is tribunal nights. Would be looking to recruit

Maybe recruit Carlton's Cripps defence legal team.

 

[Thomasno]

Harris had a look ,saw him and whacked him. Obviously he had no intention of hitting him in the head but seeing he concussed him I don't really see any way out.

Harris addressed this though, and said he saw him over his other shoulder and he was standing at full height. The tribunal in their justification specifically mention that Harris should have (somehow) known that Jones was going to lower his body while running behind him out of view.

Seems like a pretty insane thing to say

 

[martinson]

It was my impression on the vision that he didn't lower himself that much and Harris swung with an upward motion.

Of course we want to look at any way of getting him off but if it was from another team I'd be disappointed if it wasn't at least 3

 

[martinson]

On the other hand Dizz is a denial of natural justice as we see the same thing time after time with a fine if that.

What did Dizz in was that it was so unnecessary. I know he's so competitive that he gets frustrated but it was likely one of the things that cost us the game. Twice in the game.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

So when do we announce the next challenge?

 

[Section 5]

In the mix​

There's unlikely to be many, if any, changes to Sydney's side to face Brisbane after their dominant second half against Carlton last week. There would have been a temptation to rush back Cunningham from injury given he's played a lockdown role on Charlie Cameron

23

Charlie Cameron

Age

31

Ht

180cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.1

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

3.7

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

2star

K

7.9

3star

HB

1.7

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.7

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.4

2star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.2

4star

in the past, but he is set to return via the VFL, as will veteran midfielder Taylor Adams, while youngsters Dattoli and Phillipou are also a chance to return in the twos. Tom Papley will again be on managed minutes after he played just 57 per cent game time against the Blues, while Angus Sheldrick will be a watch after he played just 56 per cent. The timeline for Campbell remains unclear, but he'll be a long-term absentee. - Martin Smith

SYDNEY SWANS

Riak Andrew	Quad	TBC
Ned Bowman	Hamstring	5-6 weeks
Braeden Campbell	Shin	TBC
Billy Cootee	Thigh	2-3 weeks
Harry Cunningham	Quad	Test
Jesse Dattoli	Foot	Test
Tom Hanily	Shin	1-2 weeks
Max King	Back	5 months
Jevan Phillipou	Quad	Test
Updated: March 10, 2026

 

[Thomasno]

Okay but what if we just put a fake moustache on Harris and say it’s Joyce?

are there any rules against that?

 

[Ceebee]

You would have to bring Sam Marshall in surely , he is actually a Premiership player .

 

[Elixuh]

Okay but what if we just put a fake moustache on Harris and say it’s Joyce?

are there any rules against that?

If we transplant their faces on to one another’s, it might just work

 

[Dalions]

I really think that teams are going to come at us really hard this year: ie
Verbally and physically to try and put us off our game a bit.
It obviously worked on Saturday against the doggies with 3 suspensions out of the game out of frustration, Sydney will come hard for us again so I hope that Fages has them ready for that side of the game and to be a Goldfish and forget about it and just play the game.
Equally physical but smart and the ball needs to be the focus not the man.

 

[braddsey]

I really think that teams are going to come at us really hard this year: ie
Verbally and physically to try and put us off our game a bit.
It obviously worked on Saturday against the doggies with 3 suspensions out of the game out of frustration, Sydney will come hard for us again so I hope that Fages has them ready for that side of the game and to be a Goldfish and forget about it and just play the game.
Equally physical but smart and the ball needs to be the focus not the man.

I only think Bailey’s action was directly a result of the bulldogs physical approach (and i tend to think he has form in this area).
Harris’s suspension was an unfortunate action in play.
Gardiner’s was a slightly sloppy attempt to “make him earn it”.

That aside, agree with the rest of what you said. Bez already suggested the team will be galvanised by the challenge (or words to that effect).

Looking for the silver lining, Harris being out for 3 weeks gives a bit of a run of what a backline looks at if the worst happens and Harris goes down late in the year.

 

[martinson]

I really think that teams are going to come at us really hard this year: ie
Verbally and physically to try and put us off our game a bit.
It obviously worked on Saturday against the doggies with 3 suspensions out of the game out of frustration, Sydney will come hard for us again so I hope that Fages has them ready for that side of the game and to be a Goldfish and forget about it and just play the game.
Equally physical but smart and the ball needs to be the focus not the man.

Interesting point Dalions. We've seen over the years that once a team is seen as a dominant team in the competition their tactics and responses to needling seem to get rougher due to a bit of hubris in being challenged verbally and physically.

This seemed to creep in on Saturday. Now that we've got that out of the way hopefully we learnt a lesson.

 

[Dalions]

I only think Bailey’s action was directly a result of the bulldogs physical approach (and i tend to think he has form in this area).
Harris’s suspension was an unfortunate action in play.
Gardiner’s was a slightly sloppy attempt to “make him earn it”.

That aside, agree with the rest of what you said. Bez already suggested the team will be galvanised by the challenge (or words to that effect).

Looking for the silver lining, Harris being out for 3 weeks gives a bit of a run of what a backline looks at if the worst happens and Harris goes down late in the year.

Gardiner hit was late which would have been a 50 anyway imo.
So that was a late act out of frustration which he has also been guilty of in the past.
Harris’s was just bad luck.
But point stands, teams will come after us. Because a couple of years ago it was bandied around quite a bit that we were a soft team so they will try and push us this year without doubt.

 

[SpecialBruce]

At the end of the day Michael Christian is a moron and the Tribunal is run by muppets.

 

[M Malice]

At the end of the day Michael Christian is a moron and the Tribunal is run by muppets.

The inconsistency is the most frustrating thing.

Michael Christian has been there way too long, IMO go back to the old match review panel, need more than 1 persons view on it, a slim line panel of 3 would be better eg Leigh Matthews, Travis Boak, Jack Ziebell.

 

[Elixuh]

I only think Bailey’s action was directly a result of the bulldogs physical approach (and i tend to think he has form in this area).
Harris’s suspension was an unfortunate action in play.
Gardiner’s was a slightly sloppy attempt to “make him earn it”.

That aside, agree with the rest of what you said. Bez already suggested the team will be galvanised by the challenge (or words to that effect).

Looking for the silver lining, Harris being out for 3 weeks gives a bit of a run of what a backline looks at if the worst happens and Harris goes down late in the year.

100%.

Bailey can get a bit reactionary to that physical niggle stuff.

Chiefs was a complete accident.

I personally loved Gardiner’s make him earn it on Naughton live, even though he took a 50/50 shot to a certainty. The move was vintage Gardiner from the defending 75 entries a game under Leppa era and it warmed my heart to see. Never change Darcy!

 

[Thomasno]

The inconsistency is the most frustrating thing.

Michael Christian has been there way too long, IMO go back to the old match review panel, need more than 1 persons view on it, a slim line panel of 3 would be better eg Leigh Matthews, Travis Boak, Jack Ziebell.

I just find the whole thing so backwards too. Things like Bailey’s incident and Gardiner’s are the things that they SHOULD be trying to stamp out of the game; yet Harris’s gets the longest suspension by far for what was ultimately a complete accident.

It’s the one thing that I think the NRL does well; where a few years ago now they got sick of the cheap shots and so introduced harsher punishments that escalated with subsequent offences; and a lot of that has now been stamped out as intended.

Will never forget when Toby Greene got 1 week for eye gouging Neale (after escaping without a suspension for eye gouging Bont literally 1 week earlier); yet in that same year an NRL player was suspended for something like 6-8 games for an eye gouge.

Christian is completely off base and has been for years.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I just find the whole thing so backwards too. Things like Bailey’s incident and Gardiner’s are the things that they SHOULD be trying to stamp out of the game; yet Harris’s gets the longest suspension by far for what was ultimately a complete accident.

It’s the one thing that I think the NRL does well; where a few years ago now they got sick of the cheap shots and so introduced harsher punishments that escalated with subsequent offences; and a lot of that has now been stamped out as intended.

Will never forget when Toby Greene got 1 week for eye gouging Neale (after escaping without a suspension for eye gouging Bont literally 1 week earlier); yet in that same year an NRL player was suspended for something like 6-8 games for an eye gouge.

Christian is completely off base and has been for years.

He is likely part of the Demetriou files so has a job for life even though he is incompetent.

 

[Gadzorks]

If i am fagan, I'm making the whole team watch and rewatch that 2024 gold coast game.

Backs against the wall, not enough players to run rotations, all on the line. And the teams character showed through.

Channel that and it will be a stirring win..



Or we are getting flogged by a team with the 2024 grand final still smarting and a golden opportunity.


I prefer the first thanks.

 

[p4p1]

If Doedee is a wrist I’d almost like to see us strap it up and let him play. I personally have 0 faith in Joyce manning Charlie.

Froggy will go to him.

 

[p4p1]

Harris addressed this though, and said he saw him over his other shoulder and he was standing at full height. The tribunal in their justification specifically mention that Harris should have (somehow) known that Jones was going to lower his body while running behind him out of view.

Seems like a pretty insane thing to say

The tribunal often says insane shit like that whenever something like this happens. Not just because it is one of our players but the justification at times for holding suspensions up were things like that the player should've known in the time it take to take a single step while running at full speed that his opponent was going to go to ground, or that he should have known that the other play was going to get the ball a split second earlier than him and exited out of the contest etc. The Archer suspension and the logic the tribunal had to uphold it still shits me.
"Archer approached the contest at excessive speed, giving himself no reasonable opportunity to avoid harmful contact with Cleary in the circumstances that foreseeably arose," tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson said when delivering the verdict.

Archer loses tribunal case despite victim saying clash was not his fault

Kangaroos defender Jackson Archer's three-match suspension was upheld by the AFL tribunal with the league successfully arguing his conduct was "unreasonable in the circumstances".

www.abc.net.au

This suspension is far worse than Harris' was IMO.

I'm not angry at the suspension. The rules are more or less if you get it wrong then you take a 3 week holiday for concussing someone, but the justifications the tribunal often uses to hold up cases are full of completely insane logic and expectations of a player. In days gone by it would be classed as a unfortunate accident.

 

[M Malice]

Who are the people on the appeals tribunal?

 

[twhowler]

Very interested in our mindset this week.

Will we be the hunted or the hunter? The swans will still be smarting over the GF loss and were not themselves last year. They will be champing at the bit. We should be too after last week.

How will we start? You could tell in just about every game last year where our heads were at in the first quarter.

Will our away record be as good last year? Not only did we win an awful lot. We won pretty well. And did it with a smile.

Will we be willing to run a lot harder defensively, and respond to the kick-in disaster from last week? The difference between giving a player 1m and 2m can be everything.

I hate it but I am giving us some hope now.

Still expecting to drop this game. But our midfield is intact. And so is our forward line. So yes our backline is decimated, but if we are on top in the midfield we should kick 100+, and challenge Sydney to do the same.

Sydney clicked into gear but were only up against Carlton.

The ins are looming as pretty decent.

Draper COULD be an upgrade on Fort who got smoked by English.

Linc is a quality player and I hope he plays forward line. Will provide a big emotional lift too.

Annable will be itching for a shot.

Answerth is vital for balance in our backline.

Marshall is another possible in.

But we lose our only 3 all-australians from last year.

That is pretty confronting when put like that.

Dunks looms as vital to stop them waltzing out of the middle.

Has been dealing with a very tragic death in his extended family. Completely understandable for that to have had an affect on him and I thought he just seemed a bit off on the weekend, which is not a criticism.

But the number one man we must stop imo is Errol Gulden.

Which needs to happen an stoppage. But he does a lot of running between the arcs. Has to be Bez. Give him a mission.