Review Round 10, 2023 - Brisbane Lions vs. Gold Coast

[martinson]

Despite the fact that overall we've failed in finals under Fagan for reasons mostly beyond his control he's actually more cagey than he seems and I wouldn't be surprised given our clear injury list whether he's keeping some surprise moves under wraps till the real games start.

No point burning players up in games that you're going to win anyway.

The idea is to go into this finals series with most of your team champing at the bit and not busted up. A lot of the time it's out of your control but this year he has the chance to set it up with flexibility in the line up.

Going reasonably well so far.

 

[3KZ is Football]

There is no way that Joyce or Gardiner are going to replace Lester in the Senior side. He is the backline general we have been so desperately in need of. Go to 9:53 mark in the second quarter in the replay and have a look at Lester’s work. He reads the play well, takes an intercept mark, hits a target, directs traffic, runs into the play again, takes possession and kicks it inside 50, where Berry marks it for a shot on goal. Simply put, Lester is so much more CREATIVE than the dour Gardiner or Joyce. In fact if you watch the replay closely, he spends the game calling out to teammates in defence pointing them in the right direction and running to help out where needed. It is no surprise that getting Lester into the seniors has coincided with our defence FINALLY clicking.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

I... I think... He might be right, guys

 

[Elixuh]

I... I think... He might be right, guys

He’s been waiting for this day for 10 years

 

[M Malice]

There is no way that Joyce or Gardiner are going to replace Lester in the Senior side. He is the backline general we have been so desperately in need of. Go to 9:53 mark in the second quarter in the replay and have a look at Lester’s work. He reads the play well, takes an intercept mark, hits a target, directs traffic, runs into the play again, takes possession and kicks it inside 50, where Berry marks it for a shot on goal. Simply put, Lester is so much more CREATIVE than the dour Gardiner or Joyce. In fact if you watch the replay closely, he spends the game calling out to teammates in defence pointing them in the right direction and running to help out where needed. It is no surprise that getting Lester into the seniors has coincided with our defence FINALLY clicking.

I love that you are always standing up for your Pets 3KZ.

 

[Nathan Barley]

It’s been our midfield and forward pressure making the difference defensively. Against the Suns we had 21 more inside 50s, 31 more against Essendon and 20 more against Freo

 

[3KZ is Football]

I love that you are always standing up for your Pets 3KZ.

Just pointing out the obvious! Wait till I pull out the BIG STATEMENT!
“WE WOULD HAVE WON THE FLAG IF LESTER WAS IN THE TEAM LAST YEAR FAGAN!”

 

[3KZ is Football]

I love that you are always standing up for your Pets 3KZ.

Go on admit it. It was a great passage of play though.

 

[Gadzorks]

Just pointing out the obvious! Wait till I pull out the BIG STATEMENT!
“WE WOULD HAVE WON THE FLAG IF LESTER WAS IN THE TEAM LAST YEAR FAGAN!”

Fagan did publicly say he wasn't sure why matho hadn't been selected after he put in some awesome games.

Was acknowledgement, but where is matho now??

The coaches pet status was fleeting. Hope the Lester love lasts longer.

 

[mpal6]

Lester knows this is potentially his last chance to cement a place in this winning team and is playing exactly like that, with aggression and white line fever. Keep it up and he'll be safe. If Dizzy overcomes his stop/start injury cycle, expect him to give a red hot go in the second half of this year to win that spot.

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

Lester knows this is potentially his last chance to cement a place in this winning team and is playing exactly like that, with aggression and white line fever. Keep it up and he'll be safe. If Dizzy overcomes his stop/start injury cycle, expect him to give a red hot go in the second half of this year to win that spot.

Tall defenders was what worried me before the season started but now we have so many viable options it makes my head hurt.

 

[buttermuffs]

Tall defenders was what worried me before the season started but now we have so many viable options it makes my head hurt.

I’m still anxious without Payne or Andrews but the options for third talk are plentiful.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Doc Hattori]

Good sides win ugly and we certainly did that. The cohesion seems to be building considering the number of new signings in the best 22., bodes well for the run home.

View attachment 1692564

Gunston got at least 7 cheapies (a mark & an effective disposal which generally went 15 metres backwards) in the last quarter. Stats are garbage.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Gunston got at least 7 cheapies (a mark & an effective disposal which generally went 15 metres backwards) in the last quarter. Stats are garbage.

All stats are garbage … apart from this one. Ryan Lester is the best ball user at the Lions BY A MILE! Some of his precision transition kicking between 40 and 50 metres has been amazing this season. Very aggressive and really opened opponents up.

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

All stats are garbage … apart from this one. Ryan Lester is the best ball user at the Lions BY A MILE! Some of his precision kicking between 40 and 50 metres has been amazing this season. Very aggressive and really opened opponents up.

Confirmation bias a remote possibility here my Dear 3KZ
Hello from Vis

 

[Nathan Barley]

Watching the replay what stood out was how often when the ball was in dispute we were just able to keep it moving forward without clean possession the either winning the ball, forcing a ball up or pressuring an opposition kick and winning the ball back

Has become a hallmark of how we play and is very hard to defend against if we're switched on. It's this type of play we've been executing more and more often this season which will hold up well in big games and finals

 

[M Malice]

Watching the replay what stood out was how often when the ball was in dispute we were just able to keep it moving forward without clean possession the either winning the ball, forcing a ball up or pressuring an opposition kick and winning the ball back

Has become a hallmark of how we play and is very hard to defend against if we're switched on. It's this type of play we've been executing more and more often this season which will hold up well in big games and finals

Similar to what Richmond did to great affect in their era of 2017-20, chaos footy they called it... just get the bloody footy moving forward.

Fagan mentioned in a presser earlier in the season about our ability to stay brave and keep moving forward on opposition handball chains IIRC it was after the Pies or Demons win.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Oh hello old friend, last quarter demolition job. I'd missed you heaps. Dare I say it (and this is the first time I have even thought it) but it did have a whiff of the dynasty team about it. Tight contest for 3 quarters, then pull away in the last quarter for a more comfortable win than was arguably warranted.

We did go into the whole kick-mark game for basically the entire 2nd half of the last quarter, but this time we didn't mess it up! I'd like to think we were just practicing Would have been nice to see us really put the foot down and win by 10 goals but I realise I'm being picky now. Also the shift down in gears was more warranted on Saturday night than in say the Carlton game, as Gold Coast had shown an ability to score quickly late in quarters (both 2nd and 3rd).

I'd need to check the replay but I think this time we did a better job of having our better kicks on the last line during that period... The odd midfielder floated down there, so we didn't leave the incisive 40m crossfield kicks to Andrews and Payne (or Dunkley, who as he showed multiple times is a much better option as the release kick target up the line).

Thought we allowed them to rebound out of our forward 50 a bit too easy, particularly early on in the game. Our forward pressure wasn't quite there, but more noticeable was how often Hipwood and Gunston were outmarked. I think we were fortunate Mac Andrew is not (yet) a great kick.

But then you look at the stat sheet and we have ended up kicking 16 goals, missing a couple of ridiculously easy ones (Berry and Rayner), going at 52% efficiency inside 50, which is excellent, with room for improvement as outlined above.

Felt we allowed them to transition the ball from one end to the other a bit too easily. I don't think they once were able to generate run out of their back half that resulted in scores. However they were able to kick-mark their way through our grid I think at least twice, to generate set shots. So I think this indicates our defensive intent is there, but our positioning might be a bit off. Too often we allowed them to kick-mark into the corridor forward of our 50, which is inviting trouble.

Then when it got inside 50 for them, that was about as vulnerable as I thought Andrews and Payne had looked since Round 1 really. Jeff White

Jeff White

Age

48

Ht

195cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.5

4star

K

8.2

3star

HB

6.3

4star

HO

18.7

5star

No current season stats available

D

6.2

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

1.6

2star

HO

3.0

5star

on ABC Radio pointed out that Gold Coast made a real point of trying to isolate our talls, which is a great strategy and I don't know why nobody else has tried it. It made Andrews and Payne play one on one a lot more often and if the kick inside 50 is coming in unpressured (ie from a mark) it should always be to the forward's advantage.

So then for all that, to only concede 9 goals (yes they missed a couple but expected score was about the same as what they scored so ) @ only 46% efficiency is actually a very good performance, again with that room for improvement.

Inside 50s 60 to 39 so a smashing there despite only just winning clearances. This indicates our turnover game was on song and was at its best in the last quarter, when the Suns had nowhere to go, quite literally.

So I'm pretty glass half full about the performance. Teams will more and more try to isolate our key defenders (just as we need to isolate theirs) so it'll be a watch for me in coming weeks how we cope with a higher number of one on one contests defensively.

Similarly, our tall forwards need to remain mindful of the need to compete in the air and at worst, make sure the ball comes to ground. We've done that pretty well since Round 3, but Saturday night should serve as a timely reminder, as Ballard certainly gave Hipwood a bath in the air.

 

[Grasshopper17]

2 minute summary of our game on the Sunday footy show. About 25 mins all up on Essendon’s brave win against the 14th placed Richmond.

This is actually the real highlight of the game for us. The fact it clashed completely with the Dreamtime game and it ended with a thrilling finish.

It should be nigh on impossible for the team who is 2nd on the ladder with 7 consecutive wins to fly under the radar. But my word we are making a good fist of it.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Gunston is the only KPF on our list who is a POD to Eric and Joe. He isn’t going to have the same output as at Hawthorn because it is a completely different team and system and he is not one of our primary targets.

I thought he was poor but I don’t have any visibility into how what he is providing is b ring considered by the coaches.

It is also unclear to me how what he does is benefiting our other forwards? He might be positively impacting Joe and Charlie’s contributions for instance.

What is POD in this context?

 

[Viceregal]

What is POD in this context?

I am thinking it is Point Of Difference

 

[Grasshopper17]

Despite the fact that overall we've failed in finals under Fagan for reasons mostly beyond his control he's actually more cagey than he seems and I wouldn't be surprised given our clear injury list whether he's keeping some surprise moves under wraps till the real games start.

No point burning players up in games that you're going to win anyway.

The idea is to go into this finals series with most of your team champing at the bit and not busted up. A lot of the time it's out of your control but this year he has the chance to set it up with flexibility in the line up.

Going reasonably well so far.

To be fair he and the coaching group are (thus far) having a far better year than I have previously given (any of) them credit for. Bloody impressed both with the way we are playing (game style) and the temperament/demeanour of all our players and coaches on and off field. Treating our players like men (instead of children who need protecting, as it has felt in the past) I think has made a big difference in this regard.

 

[Grasshopper17]

On this, martinson I agree, and probably should have mentioned above. Watching live at the ground, I do think the Suns made it all VERY easy for us late in the game. If it had been a close game they'd have been pushing right up on us and not giving us any lateral options. Even Carlton had the wherewithal to do that against Collingwood on Sunday.

As it was tho, I think they were simply happy they'd stopped getting crucified on the scoreboard.

 

[Tom14]

Fagan did publicly say he wasn't sure why matho hadn't been selected after he put in some awesome games.

Was acknowledgement, but where is matho now??

The coaches pet status was fleeting. Hope the Lester love lasts longer.

Stuck behind Neale, Ashcroft, Dunkley (and lyons and Dev). He's not as good as the starting players or the other back ups.