Preview Round 10, 2023: Brisbane Lions vs. Gold Coast Suns, Saturday 20th May, 7:30. Gabba

[3KZ is Football]

Lions team pics for this weekend >

All recruited from the JUNKYARD hopefully!

 

[Son of Superboot]

Lions team pics for this weekend >

But who is the poodle?

 

[M Malice]

But who is the poodle?

Got a hairstyle like young Will.

 

[Son of Superboot]

Ah Chee or Lohmann as the sub please.

While they still have the upside down 2 for the 5, I see they have a normal 5 when highlighting Kiddy Coleman's 50th game.

 

[Son of Superboot]

Got a hairstyle like young Will.

Zorks has to be the Chihuahua

 

[rye]

Lions team pics for this weekend >

classic fagan selecting all his pets

 

[Berrygood]

Up against the Suns 3 tall fwds, King, Day and Casboult plus Lukosious, I'd have thought it is a good opportunity to bring Joyce back into the team. The Suns talls aren't competition leaders so isn't this a good chance to see if Joyce has improved his perceived deficiencies.

While we seem to be cruising against the low and midrange teams without a 3 tall fwd set up, I'd like to know that when we do come up against a taller, stronger team we have the cohesion of 3 tall backs to combat them. Come finals time it will be vital. Even next week v Crows fwd structure, should all be fit, the third tall would be useful.

I really liked the way Andrews, Payne and Joyce worked together earlier in the season. While Lester has been adequate thru these last few rounds, when push comes to shove at the pointy end of the season I'd rather the extra height and mobility Joyce offers. Time to get him back in and build his form and confidence.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Forget Adelaide, I think the Suns will make us pay if we give them the footy.
I still think we bang it on the boot to quickly , last week was very bad .
I get it , what do you do in conjestion , handball it to someone else that could get tackled or caught or bang it on the boot.
I personaly would prefer a handball to someone close and that player should be able to find another player in more open space, (Should).
So what , take the tackle , reset.
Should have a more controlled style imo. rather than a lucky dip kick.

I disagree with this pretty completely. Even if it's haphazard, I think we look far more threatening when we go forward quickly, particularly given the quality of our forward line.

But I also see your point... I think it comes back to the impact of any spare players... We looked far better forward of the ball when we equalised the numbers after half time against Essendon, and that may be the lever we try to pull tomorrow.

I feel like when the opposition do play a spare behind the ball we struggle with how best to use our own. Say we keep him around the contest. Not being a high handballing team, we aren't really set up to chain out of congestion, not that I think this is necessarily a bad thing. Watching the Bulldogs do it is like pulling teeth. What if we keep ours behind the ball? We have struggled to get run from behind the ball in slow play situations tho, even when our own spare is behind the ball. This is why we kick long down the line so often.

So these traits we have I feel lend themselves to equalising the numbers forward of the ball, taking away their spare, and therefore feeling more comfortable dump kicking the ball forward, where there really should be a contest rather than any spare players. It does however make for a potentially crowded forward line, which is why I'd like to see us be able to use our spare better, wherever they are on the field.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Sad to see Tommy Berry get dropped by the Suns.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Really makes me wonder what goes on in the selection committee meetings? Sitting around playing tiddly winks with the pet magnets already up on the board? Do they even listen to the sage advice of the fans? Doesnt sound like it. Smarten up selectors. No fans, no club!

Pet magnets lol

 

[bungalow_bill]

I can't verify this but someone told me that Fages takes Gunston for a walkies around the Gabba each night when he's at home.

 

[M Malice]

I can't verify this but someone told me that Fages takes Gunston for a walkies around the Gabba each night when he's at home.

I heard that Norman cuts his grass.

 

[Sanchez365]

I disagree with this pretty completely. Even if it's haphazard, I think we look far more threatening when we go forward quickly, particularly given the quality of our forward line.

But I also see your point... I think it comes back to the impact of any spare players... We looked far better forward of the ball when we equalised the numbers after half time against Essendon, and that may be the lever we try to pull tomorrow.

I feel like when the opposition do play a spare behind the ball we struggle with how best to use our own. Say we keep him around the contest. Not being a high handballing team, we aren't really set up to chain out of congestion, not that I think this is necessarily a bad thing. Watching the Bulldogs do it is like pulling teeth. What if we keep ours behind the ball? We have struggled to get run from behind the ball in slow play situations tho, even when our own spare is behind the ball. This is why we kick long down the line so often.

So these traits we have I feel lend themselves to equalising the numbers forward of the ball, taking away their spare, and therefore feeling more comfortable dump kicking the ball forward, where there really should be a contest rather than any spare players. It does however make for a potentially crowded forward line, which is why I'd like to see us be able to use our spare better, wherever they are on the field.

This was noticable in the prelim against Geelong where we had Ah Chee as the spare and he has no idea where to position himself effectively. While on the other side Stewart did it to perfection.

I think our best option in a role like that is probably Rich, as he is probably our weakest 1v1 but the opposition knows that so easily just sit someone on them. In the team this week our best candidate is probably Lester, but we probably can't really afford him to not be playing on one of their talls.

This is probably a role I think it would be good to try a Jarrod Berry in, and push Wilmot back to the wing. That said Wilmot could be good in that role as he's decent overhead, quick and a pretty good delivery of the football. He is very young to have that much responsibility though, and not 100% sure how he reads the game yet, which is critical in that loose HB player.

 

[Nunez]

Sad to see Tommy Berry get dropped by the Suns.

Will likely be the sub and come on to cuddle his brother at some Stage.

 

[SizeMatters]

Why do we have to have the exact same players playing the exact same roles each week?

We do occasionally change our structure. We had Rayner as a third tall defender earlier in the season, played Fort for Gunston one week, played 2 rucks plus the 3 key forwards one week as well

It's not Gunston is the same forward McStay was. Another genuine tall forward could work, especially when Joe rucks

Never said it was and you are well aware of my desire to change it up… i don’t really think we change out structure enough tbh. fagan Might try it a week or two but usually pretty predictable.

Just can’t see how we can play Whipwood and Fullerton in the same team. They are the best footy brains when it comes to leading and overworking their opponents. Will probably just end up in a mangled mess of arms and legs competing for the same ball.

 

[Gadzorks]

The question tomorrow will answer - is young Will Ashcroft a ready made big game player?

For the first time he is playing for his father's medal and that's massive. His grand final in many ways.

Personally I think he is going to bring it and put himself in contention. And if so, he is going to be a great finals player this year.

Exciting game in game game I'll be closely watching.

 

[dlanod]

Poor Xavier...

 

[twhowler]

This was noticable in the prelim against Geelong where we had Ah Chee as the spare and he has no idea where to position himself effectively. While on the other side Stewart did it to perfection.

I think our best option in a role like that is probably Rich, as he is probably our weakest 1v1 but the opposition knows that so easily just sit someone on them. In the team this week our best candidate is probably Lester, but we probably can't really afford him to not be playing on one of their talls.

This is probably a role I think it would be good to try a Jarrod Berry in, and push Wilmot back to the wing. That said Wilmot could be good in that role as he's decent overhead, quick and a pretty good delivery of the football. He is very young to have that much responsibility though, and not 100% sure how he reads the game yet, which is critical in that loose HB player.

We need better and ready strategies to counter this sort of flooding back. We seem to take a while to figure it out each time it happens. And it's almost always the same move - an extra spare in defence. Cats last year. Crows too with Dawson. When we eventually tagged him it totally flipped the contest.

I get it's a bit tricky - if you even up numbers you give them a more open forward line and crowd your own, so really you'd only do that if you are confident you can lock it in your forward line enough. At least with 6-6-6 you know a centre bounce gives you an open forward line again.

Maybe we do have a plan A and plan B for when oppositions do this but listening to Fagan in post match pressas it seems as though it takes him by surprise each time?

 

[irish]

I don't mind players getting an extended run. I don't think we see the best of them if it's only one week in & one week out.

What would you have preferred Irish?

i would have gone with AH Chee or dev , bit more experience in a tough game

 

[Quested]

Up against the Suns 3 tall fwds, King, Day and Casboult plus Lukosious, I'd have thought it is a good opportunity to bring Joyce back into the team. The Suns talls aren't competition leaders so isn't this a good chance to see if Joyce has improved his perceived deficiencies.

While we seem to be cruising against the low and midrange teams without a 3 tall fwd set up, I'd like to know that when we do come up against a taller, stronger team we have the cohesion of 3 tall backs to combat them. Come finals time it will be vital. Even next week v Crows fwd structure, should all be fit, the third tall would be useful.

I really liked the way Andrews, Payne and Joyce worked together earlier in the season. While Lester has been adequate thru these last few rounds, when push comes to shove at the pointy end of the season I'd rather the extra height and mobility Joyce offers. Time to get him back in and build his form and confidence.

I think Lester has been more than adequate and has shown more in his games than Joyce. Joyce did ok but didn't have any real game changing/goal influencing moments, where Lester defends and has impact up the field too. He also knows how to body people without giving a free and I think that counters the height difference.

 

[martinson]

Poor Xavier...

My parents and uncles used to talk about watching Doug Nicholls play when I was growing up. It was unusual because there weren't many aboriginal players at the time and there was no general awareness of the talents of indigenous Aussies because of course most never got the opportunity.

He was a trailblazer and a great player. He was an even greater human being and contributed significantly to the welfare his own people and everyone else. It's worth reading about his many great achievements

Biography - Sir Douglas Ralph (Doug) Nicholls - Australian Dictionary of Biography

adb.anu.edu.au

 

[Grasshopper17]

We need better and ready strategies to counter this sort of flooding back. We seem to take a while to figure it out each time it happens. And it's almost always the same move - an extra spare in defence. Cats last year. Crows too with Dawson. When we eventually tagged him it totally flipped the contest.

I get it's a bit tricky - if you even up numbers you give them a more open forward line and crowd your own, so really you'd only do that if you are confident you can lock it in your forward line enough. At least with 6-6-6 you know a centre bounce gives you an open forward line again.

Maybe we do have a plan A and plan B for when oppositions do this but listening to Fagan in post match pressas it seems as though it takes him by surprise each time?

I think Fages likes to give his players time to work through things and try and find a solution for themselves. I like to think this is why we waited till half time to change anything last Saturday. Also of course we led 2 goals to 1 at quarter time so there was no real reason to change anything at that time given we had the lead.

 

[Sanchez365]

Yeah imo the biggest problem in the first half were the quick kicks out of deep in our forward line to say 30m out, which an Essendon player was able to run into and then out of the def 50. Especially when we should of had an extra number behind the ball to easily cover that space.

I thought we got sucked into the contest way too much. I feel like we mainly overcame it through better forward delivery rather then any real structural change, but I was a bit hazy on the details of the game in the second half haha.

But as Grasshopper17 said, we were in front, we controlled most of the game really and if had kicked more accurately in those first 15mins of each quarter, it probably would of been a serious blow out and we would have gotten to 100 points even against a team that flooded back.

I think this week will be more of a midfield battle however, the sun's won't try to turtle from the start like Essendon did. Once we get on a roll we get hard to stop. Do the Suns have anyone that can match up on Cameron? I thought that was really the spark that slowed out forward half game down.

 

[Pns_blister]

Not sure where all the trepidation is coming from amongst our supporter base. Will win this easily. Suns haven’t beaten anyone of note, except an underdone, out of form Geelong. Especially away from home. Will absolutely spank them. 6 goals plus.

 

[3KZ is Football]

That was an awfully balanced and reasonable post there ... did someone hack your account?

Most of my posting is generated by a 3KZ Bot. Sometimes I like to compose my own.