Lions not resting on laurels, eye Blues scalp
BRISBANE’S drought-breaking win over Fremantle was met by a shorter than usual celebration as the club switched focus to ending another streak against Carlton on Saturday. The last time Brisbane won in Perth, Jon Brown dominated and Daniel Rich was the only current Lion at the club.
Captain Dayne Zorko says in the past the Lions have been guilty of enjoying victory too much, which may explain in part why you have to go back to Rounds 5 and 6 of 2015 for the Lions’ last back-to-back wins. But Zorko, who at least has a win in the 2017 International Rules series at Subiaco Oval to his name, said it did not mean they didn’t appreciate the significance of their first win in Perth since 2010 after the game.
“We haven’t won over here for a long time, and to go about it the way we did and keep our foot on the throat was really pleasing,’’ he said. “To get a win at a place where every team finds it hard was really good for us but also shows us we are on the right track and it demonstrates to our young players that our football does stand up.
“It was a hostile crowd, when we scored there was a dead silence and we had to generate our own enthusiasm and that was also a great learning for us.’’ Zorko said dwelling on the 55-point win was confined to the sheds after the game as the side focused on the logistics of attempting a rare back-to-back win. The Lions’ plane home from Perth was delayed and they did not return to Brisbane till about 8pm.
The players did extra training in the lead-up to the game knowing the short turnaround before the Carlton game at the Gabba on Saturday meant recovery would be the focus of the week, and even the main training session on Thursday would be lighter than usual. Zorko also revealed the Lions had identified a trend of lapses after wins and attempted to rectify them by sharpening up the players’ concentration levels.
“In previous years we have fallen into the trap of having a win and then being sloppy the next week or for at least a quarter, which has been enough to cost us,’’ he said. “We want to be mature in the way we deal with successes. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. “In the past, we have fallen into a trap of thinking it is going to happen next week, and that is certainly in our mindset as leaders to reinforce that – even though we know our process works – we still have to execute it. “We don’t have that problem anymore, but there was certainly a time when we enjoyed the wins too much.’’
