Game Day Round 11, 2020 - Brisbane Lions vs. Western Bulldogs

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I feel if we win tonight it sets us up for the rest of the season. Coming up a 7 day break to Norf, 8 day break to Saints, and a bye coming up shortly after that.

Agreed. It definitely feels like a turning point in a sense. Not that we're changing direction but once we get through this ine there's no going back. It's full steam to the finals

 

[Dalions]

Nervous already. See you in the review thread.

Last year was such a pleasurable ride as it was slightly unexpected. And was the perfect time to be a Lions fan.
This year it is all much more stressful as there is some expectation and pressure to back it up.
But enjoying the ride all the same and the melts.

 

[Section 5]

Last week we came up against Richmond with a team game average of a low 74 to Richmond 85 also a bit low but still 10+ games to Richmond.

Maybe we did in fact tank for that game .
I mean we did have 3 big slowish inexperienced players to Richmond's fast running ball getting reasonably inexperienced players
But that is all in the past.
This week we have the edge over the Dogs in the experience stakes
Lions just short of that magic 100 game average. Lions 99.3 to Dogs 82.2
This week i like our 5 players with over 150+ games to the Dogs 2
Lions: Birchall - Neale - Rich - Robinson - Zorko
Dogs: Macrae - Wood

Hope we don't start the game a bit flat like GWS did last night.
Get to a first quarter lead. Then slowly pull away would be my ideal win tonight
Lions by 20+(that's my go to margin when i am a bit nervous)

.

 

[Section 5]

Last year was such a pleasurable ride as it was slightly unexpected. And was the perfect time to be a Lions fan.
This year it is all much more stressful as there is some expectation and pressure to back it up.
But enjoying the ride all the same and the melts.

How true,
Preseason my expectations were to make the top six and at least get one home final
Even the unflappable Fagan got a bit testy in an interview yesterday when they bought up again about our woeful goal conversion rate

 

[MacMum]

Who would've thought we'd be playing 3 games in a week....lets hope they have been well rested since tuesday night, not training and running around all over the place, that's not giving the body a chance to recuperate energy..

This is a must win game, fingers crossed we do.

* I heard Fages in that interview, he did get testy didn't he? I thought he seemed really drained and tired after the game the other night. Hope he's ok

 

[davemc_lions]

If we lose tonight, blame the ridiculousness of not resting anyone (other than Birchall) on Tuesday against Richmond.

I agree we could off rested someone else. We rested Rich,McStay and Birchall. 2 where forced..
Add Eagles that is 4 fresh legs.. Well hope Rich legs good
I would of thought Clugga and M Robbo looked tired J Berry as well.

 

[LIONS08]

One thing that settles me with the lack of rest between games is something all the Melbourne Storm state of origin boys used to say. They would much rather play within 3-4 days of each way of origin as there was a much stronger emphasis on recovery and they would always feel great for the game! If they had a 5-6 day break they would always pull up extremely sore! I can certainly see ya having an emphasis on recovery and coming out very strong today!

 

[davemc_lions]

If a late mid out I love to see Coleman get a go.
I know there is a lot of Cox love here.. I think Coleman in the games I seen has something.

 

[Tom14]

Feeling confident about this one. Think the dogs will need Naughton to be spectacular to kick a winning score which is tough coming off an injury, or for us to have a catastrophic loss in the middle and be as inaccurate as we were against Richmond. If we can bring enough pressure their ball movement really slows down.

Would do a dedicated defensive role on Caleb Daniel as he's by far the most damaging ball user in their team.

 

[dlanod]

Would do a dedicated defensive role on Caleb Daniel as he's by far the most damaging ball user in their team.

Wouldn't mind seeing McCarthy do a job on him. He's got an underappreciated physicality while also able to run with Daniel and hurt him on the rebound.

 

[MacMum]

It really will all come down to accuracy shots for goal..

 

[Dylan12]

It was highly unlikely we were ever going to beat Richmond so why run the mids into the ground unnecessarily so we had the best shot at beating the Dogs?

I think our approach was flawed and if we lose tonight, we’ll know why.

 

[Elixuh]

Rest players and annihilate our percentage against Richmond and the same people would be complaining the other way.

 

[Lace Out]

Bad feeling..absolute 50/50 for me..a win sees us play finals probs..

 

[3KZ is Football]

Setting up expectations in advance I see. This bodes well for in-game meltdowns.

I’m refraining from “in game” posting tonight, which means this thread will contain less concise and accurate summary than usual. I might just hang out in the Over 50’s Thread.

 

[TryAnHit]

Will Eagles play fwd today? Punting question

 

[3KZ is Football]

I think we need to not let Footscray impose their doggie style of play on the game. We need to take the initiative and put scoreboard pressure on them from the outset, which means we need to not miss easy shots on goal.

 

[jackess]

We’ve done well against front running midfields like Port, GWS and Essendon.

I’m backing us in tonight.

 

[Section 5]

Will Eagles play fwd today? Punting question

Second ruck tonight, his 4 previous AFL games in 2018 he played in defense.
Doubt he scores a goal if that is your question but it is a strange year

 

[Dalions]

Second ruck tonight, his 4 previous AFL games in 2018 he played in defense.
Doubt he scores a goal if that is your question but it is a strange year

It will be Oscar who roles forward and if they are both on the field at the same time and Oscar is in the Ruck, Eagles would go back I would think

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

Yeah, but how many changes have the Crows made?

They are waiting for the end of the season

 

[ZoBlitz]

Rest players and annihilate our percentage against Richmond and the same people would be complaining the other way.

It's almost like some people are just looking for a reason to complain!

 

[3KZ is Football]

It's almost like some people are just looking for a reason to complain!

Going early perhaps. Hipwood needs to fire tonight. It’s time he stepped up. Since the Melbourne game, he has hardly set the world on fire, particularly in big occasion games.

 

[martinson]

We're better than them provided our guys aren't fatigued from the 3 games in 8 days. Some of them looked fairly fatigued on Tuesday. Hopefully we've found a way to spark them up.

Birch and Rich should make a big difference to our forward entries and relieve the pressure cooker situation we were in against the Tigers. McStay back and Oscar with a lot more forward time due to his heavy workload should assist. If Eagles is able to take 30%+ ruck time.

 

[LongLion]

It was highly unlikely we were ever going to beat Richmond so why run the mids into the ground unnecessarily so we had the best shot at beating the Dogs?

I think our approach was flawed and if we lose tonight, we’ll know why.

But what if (your) the unexpected happens and we win? Will we know all the answers then or will the coaches just have 'got lucky'?