Preview OFFICIAL PREVIEW: Brisbane Lions v Gold Coast Suns - Wednesday September 9th

[Lazza16]

Woke with a bit of a hangover......has there been any news of why Neale was in some distress and limping? I heard one commentator mention perhaps a corky but looked more like a groin to me?????

 

[davemc_lions]

I am confident we can cover for Andrews in the next few weeks. We are a cohesive unit, not a team of individuals. All aboard the Payne train!

I am less confident.. I think Harris missing is a big loss.. Recent years we would of went for Walker to be Mini Andrews.
This year Adams out and Payne one game. You could say go Eagles.. Although need to get games into Payne
I think Harris been covering we playing to short in the backline.. Lester/Darcy 192/193 against 200cm been a strech and they done well mostly

I say Payne, Mc Carthy in for Fullarton/Andrews.
You think Birchall, Robbo or Neale could need a rest.

 

[davemc_lions]

We were without Harris Andrews for a half of football and kept the Pies to a 60 year low score. We'll be okay.

We also flooded and scored 1.3 vs 3.2
If we did not have the lead when Andrews was there, we would of lost it playing like that

 

[Nunez]

We also flooded and scored 1.3 vs 3.2
If we did not have the lead when Andrews was there, we would of lost it playing like that

In what world would we play four quarters of flooding though? We wouldn't.

Payne will play Andrews role as an intercept defender and will do an okay job. He'll plug the hole.

 

[Macca225]

We also flooded and scored 1.3 vs 3.2
If we did not have the lead when Andrews was there, we would of lost it playing like that

A lot of it comes down to the delivery inside 50, if the midfield pressure is up makes it easier for whoever comes in

 

[martinson]

One thing is a bit of a mystery to me and others might have an answer. We're 10-3 and not played near our capacity in my view . After every game there's room for improvement across some areas. Then I watch other games and see lots of mistakes and issues for the contending teams as well.

Perhaps underestimating the impact of covid on training,motivation and the constant closeness all teams are stuck with in this environment which makes them look a bit stale.

You do see lots of easy misses these days ,the exceptions at the moment being the Tigers and the Cats who seem able to nail most of their straightforward opportunities.

The key for us against GC is winning it out of the centre and after that restricting their overlap . They've got some extra run this year . I hope Lachie can come up but you wouldn't take any risks with him at this point of the season

 

[Dalions]

We also flooded and scored 1.3 vs 3.2
If we did not have the lead when Andrews was there, we would of lost it playing like that

Our midfield and forward pressure got us the lead and our defence insured the result.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Will need to be very good to get out of this one with the four points.

 

[Dalions]

Will need to be very good to get out of this one with the four points.

They will be like energizer bunnies out there and we will need to match them.

 

[Lazza16]

In what world would we play four quarters of flooding though? We wouldn't.

Payne will play Andrews role as an intercept defender and will do an okay job. He'll plug the hole.

We covered well for Andrews after that GWS mongrel put him out of action last time.

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

I went to the Gold Coast game down at their ground last year and sat in the sun, looking into the sun and didn't enjoy the experience. It was bloody hot and very difficult to see what was happening. The most common comment was 'Who was that?' as we squinted into sun and the play went into the shade on the other side of the game.

I will never go back for a day game.

I have been to maybe 10 games at the Gabba but most have been night games. Its a great watching ground at night. What's it like during the day and are there seats to avoid booking for day games?

 

[Dalions]

I went to the Gold Coast game down at their ground last year and sat in the sun, looking into the sun and didn't enjoy the experience. It was bloody hot and very difficult to see what was happening. The most common comment was 'Who was that?' as we squinted into sun and the play went into the shade on the other side of the game.

I will never go back for a day game.

I have been to maybe 10 games at the Gabba but most have been night games. Its a great watching ground at night. What's it like during the day and are there seats to avoid booking for day games?

You want to be on the Northern and Western sides of the ground to avoid sitting in the sun during day games.

 

[Macca225]

I went to the Gold Coast game down at their ground last year and sat in the sun, looking into the sun and didn't enjoy the experience. It was bloody hot and very difficult to see what was happening. The most common comment was 'Who was that?' as we squinted into sun and the play went into the shade on the other side of the game.

I will never go back for a day game.

I have been to maybe 10 games at the Gabba but most have been night games. Its a great watching ground at night. What's it like during the day and are there seats to avoid booking for day games?

Yeah, metricon is horrible during the day and you can't get tickets on the opposite side. Just get tickets in any of the 70s sections... Out of the suns

 

[Macca225]

Zorkos preview

 

[POBT]

I am confident we can cover for Andrews in the next few weeks. We are a cohesive unit, not a team of individuals. All aboard the Payne train!

You’ve got more faith than me if you are confident in covering for Harris. I’m hopeful rather than confident. Replacing the best KPD in the league with a youngster who looked a long way off last time doesn’t fill me with confidence. And our defence took a battering last night at times and so it would be a massive effort for the likes of Gardiner and Lester to cover the gaps.

I’m not one at all for making wholesale changes but I’m coming around to moving McStay back, rather than playing Payne. I’d rather play an inexperienced tall forward like Skinner than an inexperienced defender.

 

[Nunez]

You’ve got more faith than me if you are confident in covering for Harris. I’m hopeful rather than confident. Replacing the best KPD in the league with a youngster who looked a long way off last time doesn’t fill me with confidence. And our defence took a battering last night at times and so it would be a massive effort for the likes of Gardiner and Lester to cover the gaps.

I’m not one at all for making wholesale changes but I’m coming around to moving McStay back, rather than playing Payne. I’d rather play an inexperienced tall forward like Skinner than an inexperienced defender.

Maybe it's the euphoria of beating the Pies that gives me confidence, but I just feel our defence plays as a unit and Payne has spent his career developing in the same system as we've been playing in the ones. If he had to play against someone like Lynch I wouldn't be confident, but I feel he has the pace and strength to play on a guy like King.

 

[Section 5]

One of the two selection issues this week will be who comes into that Ruck/Forward role.
Fagan has previously stated what do you do if your main ruck goes down.
So he likes that Ruck/Forward position to be filled
My question is do we have better ruck/forward options than Archie & Ballenden

Oscar has much more influence over the game when he rucks 85 %+ which your number one ruck needs to do.
The last five games he has lifted his TOG average from mid 70% to - Pies 89% then the other four of 75%, 86%,85% & 86%.
Oscar has been great and Fullarton did impress in his first outing. But he is now injured.

Below is Oscars three games paired with Archie and the two games with Ballenden
So you can see Archie and Ballenden gobble up some of Oscars game time and both do not contribute much in return
Average for these 5 games Oscar 76.8% the other two 55.6%
I believe we can get a better return from that 55.6% game time with another player. Just who is the question. Or will they play with a safe option.

Player	Club & Opponent	Hit Outs	Disposals	Time On Ground	Game Rating
Oscar	W/C Eagles- Nic Nat	16	11	71%	Good -(A+)
Archie	W/C Eagles - Nic Nat	14	6	39%	Poor - (F)

Oscar	Adelaide - O'Brien	19	3	83%	Poor -(F)
Archie	Adelaide - O'Brien	10	4	53%	Poor- (F)
Oscar	Melbourne - Gawn	8	13	76%	Above Average- (B)
Archie	Melbourne - Gawn	10	4	43%	Poor- (F)

Oscar	Essendon - Draper/Bellchambers	23	9	68%	Above Average - (A-)
Ballenden	Draper/Bellchambers	2	6	70%	Below Average - (C-)
Oscar	Richmond - Soldo/Chol	19	11	86%	Good - (A+)
Ballenden	Richmond - Soldo/Chol	3	3	73%	Poor - (F)

The Suns game is the time to try something different with only 3 games until finals.
I think Ellis-Yolmen can fill the role as he did pinch hit in the ruck on occasions at Adelaide mainly around the ground.
He at least gives us some mobility and a big body forward who can kick goals. I am sure if he was asked to play a role he would jump at the chance.
McStay, Hipwood & Lester can help out during the game.
Then you have Eagles. But if he comes in we get the same result as the others.
Unless someone else is playing ruck in the twos we don't appear to have many options

If not Ellis-Yolmen and i had to choose between Smith & Ballenden assuming they are both available i think Ballenden is a better option.
At least he can play forward take a mark and kick a goal. But he just looked very slow in his two games.

I just can't visually see Archie & Ballenden adapting to a finals game should Stef not be able to return.
We need to implement Plan C now in case Stef does not make it back.

Edit- Not sure what happened to table. Hope people can follow it

 

[martinson]

Harris being out gives others the opportunity to step up and take responsibilty.

Rather someone fit out there than have the last half with Harris on the bench like last night.

We've got plenty of experience in our backline ,the guys know what's required. I'd love to have another look at McStay down back . It's not going to impact our forward line that much but highly unlikely we'll go that way imo.

 

[Mighty Lions]

In what world would we play four quarters of flooding though? We wouldn't.

Payne will play Andrews role as an intercept defender and will do an okay job. He'll plug the hole.

Not so sure Payne will get the nod just yet. McStay down back and then re-jig the forward line is also a consideration while waiting for Andrews to come back in.

 

[Nunez]

Not so sure Payne will get the nod just yet. McStay down back and then re-jig the forward line is also a consideration while waiting for Andrews to come back in.

Seems like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If we put McStay back we'd then have to bring in Smith to play as the ruck. Wouldn't be a bad idea giving Oscar more forward time so he doesn't overwork himself heading into finals.

 

[Macca225]

Not so sure Payne will get the nod just yet. McStay down back and then re-jig the forward line is also a consideration while waiting for Andrews to come back in.

I'm not sure this late in the season is the time to re-jig things, McStay and Hipwood are our best options to play forward, I think we have a few players to play a role down back. Also its much easier to play back and I'm pretty sure every one of our talls have played some time in the NEAFL in defence. Payne was an emergency for the pies game so I'd say he's next in line but we also have Eagles, Ballenden and Skinner who have all had a go down back.

 

[Keays2myBeamas]

Surely Skinner and Eagles are better footy players than Payne and Smith?

 

[M Malice]

Surely Skinner and Eagles are better footy players than Payne and Smith?

I'm with you on Archie, unless something dramatic happens re his ability(not holding my breath after 7 years).... He was given the option to look for a trade out last off season so despite what the coaches understandably say in public I don't think they are confident he will make it either, he is nowhere near looking like an AFL level ruckman IMO.

 

[Squizz89]

Could Eagles come in and take Harris’ spot? He was obviously very average in that ruck/forward role, but I seem to remember hearing from reserve watchers last year he played well down back?

Obviously Payne is the future, so I guess it just depends on how much faith they have in him to step up so soon, especially knowing one slip up in the next few weeks is likely to cost us a top 2 spot at least.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

doesn’t seem like anyone thinks witherden is a chance to come back in anytime soon?

He isn't, unless we're resting Birch. It's hard to play all of Birch, Rich and Witho in the same team because they're all the same type of player, a medium defender who isn't fast but has a good rebounding kick. Carrying more than two of them is just duplicating certain skills while creating weaknesses in other areas. Birch and Rich have clearly outperformed Witho this season because they've got a level of game smarts that Witho hasn't yet developed.

Payne will play Andrews role as an intercept defender and will do an okay job. He'll plug the hole.

From my limited viewing of NEAFL, my understanding is that Eagles played as the intercept defender while Payne just stuck to the man.