Preview Rd 9 - North Melbourne v Brisbane Lions

[Toffee Lion]

Going to be hard for Banners to get back into the side.

If Green and Zorko can find more ball in the midfield he is as good as gone!

Of course though I'd love for Banfield to learn how to be a midfielder and make his way back into the side.

 

[3KZ is Football]

He has been, but it's been shown what he can bring to the table, as we saw in the second half.

If we were really rebuilding:

Drummond and Adcock are in the top 5 of our most important players. If you talk about a rebuild, you don't just put in kids everywhere, you have to have the right mix of seniors with youngsters. Patfull showed how useful he was against 2nd and 3rd talls, and McGrath played his best game for the year.

With Maguire in top form, we don't really need him back there.

Well, it's been a bit hard since they're both still inconsistent when brought into the senior team. But Cornelius is getting a go at least. Rotation policy in full swing.

Karneis has a corked thigh or something, they didn't want to risk him.
As for Polec, he has played every game this season, and again, rotation policy with Yeo replacing him. How else are we going to rebuild?

They are the future of our midfield, of course they would be under pressure to perform each week. But they're still not 100-game players, where you'd hope that they'd do that. That's where the recruiting pro-2009 really hurt us with no mature 23-27 year old midfielders.

It is. That's why Cornelius was named this week, and Hawksley was rewarded a couple of weeks ago.

If we didn't, we would have been a lot worse off. Leuenberger was in the prime of his career, and it was sad that he went. But it was good thinking to bring Hudson out of retirement in case the unthinkable does happen.

How is it going backwards if we lost by 16 points?
Sure, our first half was deplorable, but we showed what we can achieve with the right attitude and mindset.

- I can't see the logic in your comments about Maguire and Merrett. Maguire is in great form, but that doesn't mean he can carry the backline. It's a bit like saying, well Leppitsch is in great form so we'll play Mal Michael in the forward line. Given we have been getting smashed and smashed early in games, surely an extra fist and a bit of experience in defence would help.

- If Karnezis was injured, I'll concede on him and Yeo did have a great game. If we are going to have a "rotation policy", I'd like to see a few of our senior players rotated before a player like Polec was omitted.

- I agree that at this stage Rich, Redden and Rockliff are the future of our midfield, but I hope that we are able to develop at least another two or three players who can be "the future of our midfield" in the next two or three seasons.

- Hawksley was elevated to the seniors against Collingwood, was listed in our best players on the Lions website and in every newspaper I saw and was then immediately dropped. How is this rewarding good form? As for Cornelius, at a time when we are short a key forward, he should be in the team each week. I thought his form today demonstrated this.

- The fact that the game was effectively over at half time is the most telling thing about our performance today.

Thanks for your response to my post. I liked the tone and the fact that you were able to discuss these issues in a respectful way.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Going to be hard for Banners to get back into the side.

If Green and Zorko can find more ball in the midfield he is as good as gone!

Green has genuine midfield potential. As in full time mid. Plenty of opportunity for Banfield to find his way back. Always a spot for pace in the team. Just needs to get his touch back.

 

[Hollow Knight]

I've been hard on Redden lately but his third quarter was seriously good. Turned the momentum. Hope that gives him some belief back.

 

[Clackers]

Leaving Hudson out today was obviously a big mistake. Goldstein is out of form but he totally outclassed Longer, and it made life very difficult for our midfield.

This was the key match up in my opinion. Goldstein smashed Longer. It is all part of the learning process though I guess, so hopefully Longer comes out a better player.

 

[John]

Is it worth reading all 600 posts that I have missed?

Yeah I didn't think so either...

Yeah but lets guess how it went anyway.

I suspect that there was calls for various defenders to be dropped. Jack et al will receive high praise for the 2nd half fight back when in fact Jack et al were in fact the cause of the defenders having ball rained down on their heads for the entire first half. When the 2nd half fightback got under way the defence was under less pressure and still preformed very well indeed but that since Jack et al had now got into the game they were in fact the hero's and McGuire, Patful, McGrath, Drummond, Hanley and Golby, were the villains and the cause of us losing stoppages and clearances something like 50 to 20.

It is all so easy CJ.

 

[Haso]

This was the key match up in my opinion. Goldstein smashed Longer. It is all part of the learning process though I guess, so hopefully Longer comes out a better player.

He'll need a rest next week after a full game battering from Goldstein. I think Huddo will have to take on Nic Nat and Cox with some help from Merrett.

 

[Haggis McHaggis]

I've been hard on Redden lately but his third quarter was seriously good. Turned the momentum. Hope that gives him some belief back.

Second that. His second half was outstanding.

 

[PertRoosOsborne]

We are s**t

Was probably true at the time.....but a bit harsh really.

Was good to see the team show some fight and belief in themselves.....IMO this is not an honorable loss but a BIG lesson learned.

So often when a game is concluded we see how much every second and every action counts for something.

A win or a loss is a sum of its parts.

The players will be gutted....bring on the eagles

 

[WilburH]

He'll need a rest next week after a full game battering from Goldstein. I think Huddo will have to take on Nic Nat and Cox with some help from Merrett.

I disagree they will need 2 ruckman to allow Merret to play down back against Cox who is playing almost a permanent forward with Kennedy out

 

[Caiphus]

I actually thought Redden was the only mid doing anything in the first half too. His disposal was better this week than it has been the last few weeks.

Bewick is starting to show a bit at this level now, and Yeo was pretty good for a skinny kid on debut.

 

[weevil]

Bewick is starting to show a bit at this level now, and Yeo was pretty good for a skinny kid on debut.

Yeah Bewick looks to be starting to find his feet.

 

[dlanod]

We played like we are the fourth or fifth worst team in the league.

So no real surprises, just disappointing.

 

[Haso]

I disagree they will need 2 ruckman to allow Merret to play down back against Cox who is playing almost a permanent forward with Kennedy out

That does sound nice, but we have seen that Merrett currently cannot just drop back or run forward and dominate - he needs a few weeks to get back into it.

I could very well be proven wrong, but I think this is where young player management kicks in and he gets a break before risking injury.

 

[Haggis McHaggis]

Bewick is starting to show a bit at this level now.

He handballed inside, in front of goal, to cost us one in the first. Good thing it was Vossy's fault

 

[weevil]

- Hawksley was elevated to the seniors against Collingwood, was listed in our best players on the Lions website and in every newspaper I saw and was then immediately dropped. How is this rewarding good form?

If he had played and was anything other than very good I reckon you would have been saying that he never should have been in the team.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Brave Lions fall short

http://www.lions.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/5085/newsid/136965/default.aspx

Inept, Complacent, Lazy and Erratic Lions Lose After Playing A Quarter and A Half Of Football.

I really struggle with any attempt to connect today's performance with the word "Brave".

 

[3KZ is Football]

If he had played and was anything other than very good I reckon you would have been saying that he never should have been in the team.

No way! I have started up a Hawksley Bandwagon!

I'd just like to see his good form rewarded.

 

[Hollow Knight]

http://www.lions.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/5085/newsid/136965/default.aspx

Inept, Complacent, Lazy and Erratic Lions Lose After Playing A Quarter and A Half Of Football.

I really struggle with any attempt to connect today's performance with the word "Brave".

The Lions website is a marketing tool, it's their job to sell a brand.

You aren't going to see a release on the Pepsi website saying "Coke kicked our arses again this year".

 

[WilburH]

Whats the injury risk? He is young and they would play him in the reserves if he was out of the team. He needs to play senior game time with some help and guidance. Surely thats the value of getting Hudson

 

[kylegee28]

http://www.lions.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/5085/newsid/136965/default.aspx

Inept, Complacent, Lazy and Erratic Lions Lose After Playing A Quarter and A Half Of Football.

I really struggle with any attempt to connect today's performance with the word "Brave".

Definitely understandable where you are coming from, however, I think they were brave to come out and fight the way they did after half time. We could have easily dropped the heads after the smashing we took in the first half.

But on that note, I do agree that the word Erratic suits our performance better

 

[3KZ is Football]

The Lions website is a marketing tool, it's their job to sell a brand.

You aren't going to see a release on the Pepsi website saying "Coke kicked our arses again this year".

Of course you are right.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Shocking headline!!!

It's supposed to be "Gallant".

 

[DrummoSolo]

Whats the injury risk? He is young and they would play him in the reserves if he was out of the team. He needs to play senior game time with some help and guidance. Surely thats the value of getting Hudson

I'm in agreement here I think - there's so much tall timber at the Eagles that we really need to be running with both ruckmen this week. The bye is after that, and 2 weeks off for Longer is probably a bit excessive,

 

[whatboutbob]

Post-game discussion here.