Review Reviews and Views v Eagles

[Haggis McHaggis]

I love the Hawk is shit garbage here. His 2nd half was clearly better than his first, and more importantly, his seconds form demanded selection. Unsurprisingly, he was initially slower than AFL pace, having played most of the year in the NEAFL. He may well be gone, but there's no need to crucify him before that time.

As for acuguy's suggestion that taking Brown/Black was pointless, I get the sentiment. Taking them isn't pointless if you want your best side on the park, but as for player management & team development, I think we missed an opportunity. Impossible to foresee Maguire being injured, but I'd like to see Ace & Lisle up forward at top level. Really hoping to see Retz/Ace together next year at some stage. We really need to pursue some development up forward.

As for our midfield, still too one paced & reactive. As always happens when our young side goes into its shell, they get sucked in & lose structure & composure. So many times 2 or 3 lions went to one bloke, lost the contest because they were focused on shutting down the man, the ball slips out, and off to the races they go.

Huddo needs a rest

And finally, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

[Grimreepah]

I reckon against West Coast you have to play short. Kicking long plays into WC's strength with so many tall players. Unfortunately when you start to panic the tendency is to kick long and West Coast were able to control the game quite easily. Interestingly we won the clearances 56-39. Such a discrepancy would normally indicate we won quite convincingly. I remember Voss asked about clearances (pretty sure it was against GC) and he said it wasn't so much the number of clearances that GC were getting that was a concern, but the quality. Still, getting first hands to the ball is never a bad thing, but we lacked the ability to get the ball to someone in good position. Rich would have been a big in but overall our midfield is fairly blue collar and lacks genuine stars.

During the game I noticed a number of head high tackles, and it was fairly evident how well the West Coast players manouvre themselves to win free kicks. You can't blame West Coast for exploiting the rules, but it's something that we need to do too if we want to be on a level playing field.

This game was a pretty good example of why you shouldn't play too many inexperienced players at once. When you get belted structures fall apart, players lose confidence in themselves and each other, and it can be a really unpleasant for all concerned. I'm not sure how any of our players are better for the experience. The one exception I would say is Wrigley who got more proactive as the game went on, but you're always going to learn a lot in your first game. What did the others learn? That they aren't good enough, helplessness, that no matter what you try to do it will fail, that if you take a risk you'll get burnt with a turnover. I'm not saying there will be psychological scars or anything but these negative thoughts now have to be undone. What did the coaches learn? Nothing. When things turn to shit everyone gets dragged along, and it's much harder to assess players on an individual level. There simply weren't enough wise heads to keep everyone focused and positive, and the dam wall burst.

 

[Ironmonger]

What struck me most about this game is how badly we struggle to clear the ball from the back 50 when Drummond is out.

 

[POBT]

What struck me most about this game is how badly we struggle to clear the ball from the back 50 when Drummond is out.

The point has been made before that it really is a workmanlike group if you take Drummo out and give Hanley a licence to play a roaming role. An opposition coach isn't likely to be too worried about the likes of Harwood, Adcock, Patull and Maguire cutting them to pieces on the rebound.

(NB: I only saw bits of yesterday's game so this is a general comment)

 

[jackess]

Yeah lets swing the axe and throw the gameplan they have been developing for 4 months out the window.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Yeah lets swing the axe and throw the gameplan they have been developing for 4 months out the window.

Given how tired a lot of the younger players looked would you really be surprised if changes were made??

 

[Haso]

Given the level of inexperience in the playing group yesterday, leaving Brown and Black behind as well may have resulted in an even bigger hiding.

 

[mish33]

Didn't see the second half, but I wasn't surprised to hear we struggled with decision making. Losing McGrath, Rich, Golby, Drummond and Polec was always going to hurt our kicking. I would rate these guys as five of our best kicks at the club (add Hanley in their too). I imagine WC would have struggled without Hurn, waters, shuey, Gaff and LeCras (ok, so he was missing)

And hey, on the bright side, we beat them In clearances

 

[OldLion]

Massive. Reality. Check. We beat them away 2 years ago. Since then ... We just lack class on every line. And we got NicNat on a day out. He is something else.

 

[Hollow Knight]

 

[POBT]

A mate of mine who has just moved back from Perth reckons going to a WCE game some weeks is akin to going to a pantomine. Everyone knows who the villain is and the crowd participates in a "Look behind you!!!" kind of way whenever the umpires or opposition do something. He reckons it is theatrical more than a sporting contest.

But he still maintains that, when it is a big game and it is close, it is the best place to watch footy, even if you are supporting the opposition.

 

[Baby_Jenks]

When life imitates art :

"Do you hear that sound?
That's the simultaneous breathing of 50,000 idiots."
Peter Terson's 1967 play Zigger Zagger

 

[jackess]

They might carry on like idiots but at least they can get over 20,000 to a match.

 

[T Factor]

The Eagles supporters were just terrible. I don't get along to too many games and was in with the Eagles season ticket holders with a fellow BL supporter. The booing was obviously noticable on the TV given what has been said. What really got me were the personal attacks on Browny like he was the one that had done something.

I thought Jack Redden was clearly our best, loved the tackle that led to holding the ball and a goal, that was right in fron of us and the Weagles just went off. The run and spread of the Eagles in the first quarter killed us, we were just not prepared to run on a big Subi ground and it showed on the scoreboard. It was good to see us tighten up in the second and make a game of it for awhile. The second half was a bit of a procession and was hard work for those of us who only get to see the Lions once a year.

I have been a bit confused with selections in the last few weeks, I would have loved to seen Karnezis play on the large ground. It will be nice to see Rich back, we have really missed his disposal out of the middle.

 

[Tassie4ever]

It's all been said above. Excepting Hudson, Brown, Zorko, Hanley, Raines, Redden [apart from his continued woeful disposal, maintaining his reputation as the Clanger King] and, to a lesser extent, Adcock, the rest weren't worth feeding.

Must add that in all my mostly wasted years of watching and playing, I don't recall ever seeing a player go back for a kick while grooming his hair [Patfull, first Qu.]. Then again, this reflected very accurately in his game.

Lester, Crisp, and for some not obvious reason, Rockliff, have all pretty obviously hit the wall but there are no apparent solutions. I give you Black in the ruck. WTF???

If some above see fit to get into Hawksley [who fairly obviously was given a game to possibly either resurrect his career or improve his trade opportunities] then how about applying the same logic to Polkinghorne and Banfield who were as bad or worse but who are both played week in and out.

Up against the bigger, faster, harder and fitter WC outfit, you can see where a few years of astute recruitment can lead- and the converse as in our case.

Oh, and I can see why we didn't pick up "problem child" Jack Darling- can kick, take a mark, kicks goals. Provide a foil for JB. Wouldn't fit in.

 

[jackess]

Black put himself in the ruck just to give Lions supporters something to laugh about. Or he just wanted to be able to tell people that he once rucked against Natanui.

 

[patfullfankezz]

Must add that in all my mostly wasted years of watching and playing, I don't recall ever seeing a player go back for a kick while grooming his hair [Patfull, first Qu.]. Then again, this reflected very accurately in his game.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that LOL. My argument is that he knew I was watching and had to look his best.

 

[Doughboy]

Dont hate me, but I felt compeled to come over and say how disgusted I was with our supporters booing Brown

I was at the game and couldnt understand for the life of me why the crowd was giving it to Brown. I know that there were several supporters (me included) that were pretty frustrated with the free count in your forward 50 and the umpire at the time. But only having watched the game live and not the replay on TV and Subi being the worst ground in the country to watch footy, I cant say for sure what others had seen, but if they were booing Brown, then hand your memberships back.

 

[MSB ROYS]

BOOOOOOOO!

 

[Bucking Beads]

Brown seems to get booed a lot these days. I always thought he was a players that most fans admired.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Let's not get the razorblades out just yet. We can still win two or three of the remaining games which would be 9 or 10 wins for the season which is one or two more than I predicted. We're not as lamentable as some are suggesting. We are young and some days look pretty ordinary but then when we play well and we supporters get all excited and start talking about what great depth we are developing and how rosey the future looks. I think it does look rosey. Now is the time to see what Docherty and Lisle can do, and to bring back Karnezis, Beams, Green and Longer for quality game time.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Up against the bigger, faster, harder and fitter WC outfit, you can see where a few years of astute recruitment can lead- and the converse as in our case.

Oh, and I can see why we didn't pick up "problem child" Jack Darling- can kick, take a mark, kicks goals. Provide a foil for JB. Wouldn't fit in.

West Coast are just further down the development path than we are. Their least experienced player on the park yesterday had 28 games experience. We had 8 players with less experience than that on the ground. They had 528 more games of experience then we had.

You can argue that we are further down development-wise than them because of poor recruiting but you can't judge how that development is going until we get more experience into many of these players.

If you're only looking at Darling's form now and using that to judge why we didn't pick him up then you're underrating the forces at play that stopped us as well as every other club from picking him up at the time.

 

[jesterwester]

I hope you guys don't mind me intruding, I'm really not here to gloat at all, but I just wanted to say that even though the margin was big, (we are fast becoming flat track bullies.) there are a lot of good signs for you guys. Zorko is going to be a gun, I really enjoy watching him play, I was surprised he wasnt listed in the bests. I thought McKeever played alright ans was quite lively off the half back, Adcock is a super defender, he nullified both Hill & Darling for periods when on both. You smashed us in the clearances, which considering the influence we get from NN & cox is really impressive. You just need time, thats all.

Brown is a champion, and I really feel ashamed of my own supporters if they were booing at him (its hard to tell from the tv coverage usually, but not yesterday) He is a super player, and to see him get up, go back & kick the goal is a testament to his toughness. I have a lot of respect for him.

 

[Elixuh]

Fasolo (although I dislike his demeanor)...

Did you watch Before the Game recently when Fasolo was on?

 

[Dylan12]

Well first off the trip to Perth to see the Lions was well worth it. Save for half a dozen boys, it was so pleasing to see they were so interested in having a crack...absolutely spineless!!!

FYI - That was the "Brisbane Lions" second worse loss in the merged club's history, which is seriously saying something. As much as there is some improvement in our list we have had our second and fourth/fifth biggest losses (against Carlton earlier this year) in our 16 year history in this year alone, which surely has to be unacceptable and without excuses.

This may be harsh, and in fact I know it is, but in line of our worst theme, McKeever is now firmly entrenched in the top 3 out of 161 listed players in the merged club history. Sure he may be a good bloke and all the rest, but he is NOT an AFL level player and the quicker we realise this and be done with it the better. Opposition club's know exactly what to do and after watching him closely yesterday, he simply has no idea how to a key defensive role and even if Maguire does not come up, should still not play this week. How he gets a game ahead of Lisle is beyond me or may be more of an indicment on Lisle, I don't know...but surely Merrett returns back and Lisle/Longer comes in to support to Hudson.

As for Crisp, Wrigley, Bewick, Lester, Yeo, Banfield...you can't have all of these guys in the same team at once. I still don't know what Lester is meant to offer and even more confused yesterday. He doesn't look fit and is slow! For mine Crisp and Wrigley are not AFL standard yet and I'm bamboozled how either get a game ahead Beams, Polec, Karnezis etc etc.

As for leaving Brown one out on the expansive Subi Oval was absurd and I forecast that the non-selection of Cornelius or Karnezis or Lisle would hurt and did in spades. You can only put that down to selection committee which may have comprised all of the kids in that video.

Can anything really be said about THAT last quarter and particularly the first 15 minutes. It was one of the first times I have actually been embarrassed to be a Lions supporter at a game. It was such a pissweak and insipid effort of players wearing our jumper (maybe that could be more to do with that stupid paddlepop on the front).

One other demoralising comment I must make is the difference in fortune and misfortune between the Eagles and Lions in one draft regarding very similar picks. The Eagles gained Gaff and Darling who are absolutely stars and killed us yesterday and we wound up with Polec (admittedly taken after Gaff) and Karnezis (taken before Darling), who were nowehere to be seen and IMO unlikely to come close to the influential players that Gaff and Darling are. No doubt a lot here will come up with a raft excuses for our players, but geez, is it ever that hard to come out and just say we got it wrong.