Review Round 12, 2025 - Brisbane Lions vs. Essendon

[MSB ROYS]

23 wins from the last 28 games is impressive.

Very.

 

[Gadzorks]

In the third quarter the dees worked their butts off. Every ball was contested often with their playing busting their gut to get to the contest while we .. didn't.

Until the last quarter when they showed up.

I expect next week they will be switched on from the start and romp it in.

 

[Thedeftouch]

Time to microwave the memberships lmao

 

[p4p1]

I just don’t know.
Dizz isn’t a forward. Yes he popped up and kicked 4 against Melbourne and I have confidence that he will do that every now and then if we persist with him. But, I just don’t think it works. Day coming back in is vitally important.
I didn’t think I would mind Eric rucking but it’s having the opposite effect than it did on Joe. For Joe it bought him into the game and helped him when he went back forward. For Eric, it is destroying his form up forward for some reason. It’s potentially a short term issue with Day coming back but I’m not convinced we can rely on Day who is a 32 year old injury prone player.
WAshcroft does some good things but he also does way too many hack kicks. I still have faith in him but he needs to turn that around and he needs to work harder defensively. He is very talented but it doesn’t seem like he has any versatility. Unlike Fletch, who we can throw to multiple positions, for Will it is inside mid or bust really. I’m frustrated with him because I expect a lot from him.
Levi needs to stop looking for Will so much. It feels like every time he gets the ball he is going to give it to Will.
Rayner just needs to be more involved more often. At this point, we may as well play him as our deepest forward while Day is out. At least he is strong and an aerial threat.
Fort started really well but faded. Even after that, he still did do some good things that helped us win the game.
Logan was solid and tried his guts out all game.
Andrews and Payne had a mare. Froggy was pretty solid. Monty was good.
Fletcher was one of our best. Made a few mistakes and got caught out of position a few times but did a hell of a lot to make up for it. I wouldn’t mind seeing him as an inside mid. Even in congestion he generally makes good decisions and doesn’t hack kick. He would work as hard defensively as he does offensively, something our midfield sorely misses at times.
Bailey had some really good moments. Definitely his best season to date.
Great to see Kai back kicking goals. He changes our whole forward line when he is on.


Anyway we bank 4 points and move on.

 

[martinson]

I normally don't get nervous during games but when they drew level and our experienced players looked like they were drunk the thought of losing this was really hurting my head.

Our forward structure just isn't working near effectively as it could right now . Hipwood rucking takes away one of our biggest weapons . Dizz weighs us down imo if his only role is key forward ,not questioning his effort.

The big concern is how our midfield switches off for periods. It's getting to be a habit when we think we have control.

Still any win is a good win in my view .Especially when we've already coughed up unlosable ones twice.

 

[matwt73]

Gardiner is not a forward but he did shifts rucking and was no worse than Hipwood. Cal started brightly and even as he drifted out of the game tried to add some forward 50 pressure. Hugh easily BOG, but I also found votes for Jaspa, and Dunkley topped the tackle count which I think always warrants a vote.

 

[Thedeftouch]

I just don’t know.
Dizz isn’t a forward. Yes he popped up and kicked 4 against Melbourne and I have confidence that he will do that every now and then if we persist with him. But, I just don’t think it works. Day coming back in is vitally important.
I didn’t think I would mind Eric rucking but it’s having the opposite effect than it did on Joe. For Joe it bought him into the game and helped him when he went back forward. For Eric, it is destroying his form up forward for some reason. It’s potentially a short term issue with Day coming back but I’m not convinced we can rely on Day who is a 32 year old injury prone player.
WAshcroft does some good things but he also does way too many hack kicks. I still have faith in him but he needs to turn that around and he needs to work harder defensively. He is very talented but it doesn’t seem like he has any versatility. Unlike Fletch, who we can throw to multiple positions, for Will it is inside mid or bust really. I’m frustrated with him because I expect a lot from him.
Levi needs to stop looking for Will so much. It feels like every time he gets the ball he is going to give it to Will.
Rayner just needs to be more involved more often. At this point, we may as well play him as our deepest forward while Day is out. At least he is strong and an aerial threat.
Fort started really well but faded. Even after that, he still did do some good things that helped us win the game.
Logan was solid and tried his guts out all game.
Andrews and Payne had a mare. Froggy was pretty solid. Monty was good.
Fletcher was one of our best. Made a few mistakes and got caught out of position a few times but did a hell of a lot to make up for it. I wouldn’t mind seeing him as an inside mid. Even in congestion he generally makes good decisions and doesn’t hack kick. He would work as hard defensively as he does offensively, something our midfield sorely misses at times.
Bailey had some really good moments. Definitely his best season to date.
Great to see Kai back kicking goals. He changes our whole forward line when he is on.


Anyway we bank 4 points and move on.

Agree with the concerns about Will. For much of the season I’ve seen him dogging it on defence and hacking it forwards and looking for quick one-twos. I might be harsh and appreciate he’s very young but I feel like he’s taken a backward step this season

 

[Gabba Gate 33]

I do not understand why we don’t play more of our list with these short turn arounds.
Marshall, Bruce or Doedee or at least debuting Gallop could inject some much needed energy and pace.

So many of our boys out of form, turn up knowing there is no pressure to retain their spot in the side. They play like they are untouchable.

Levi needs a break.

 

[010203]

Fages on Will Ashcroft during Roaming Brian..."he had the will to win"

 

[Coastal Lion]

Are we an arrogant team in the way we pay no respect to teams that are considered not at our level i don't know what it is but the effort in games this year has been pissweek at times.I know you can't be up for every game but it's clearly something that needs to be addressed.
We won im happy to bank the 4pts 5day breaks are shyte.

 

[martinson]

I do not understand why we don’t play more of our list with these short turn arounds.
Marshall, Bruce or Doedee or at least debuting Gallop could inject some much needed energy and pace.

So many of our boys out of form, turn up knowing there is no pressure to retain their spot in the side. They play like they are untouchable.

Levi needs a break.

Yep. I don't get it . Essendon had young inexperienced guys who really stepped up tonight. We could've rested a couple.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Glad we were able to find another gear in the last 10-15 minutes but we've got to be better at home, especially against bottom 8 sides lately.

 

[LoganMorrisFan]

It's not that Dizz isn't a good player, he just doesn't have the size and presence we need to compliment the others and Eric won't last long playing second ruck. Thilthorpe will destroy him next week

 

[Clarkythelion]

Ho Hum, I didn't go to the game because I thought, no changes to the team, how boring, same ol, same ol. It kinda was, at the end of the seasons it will be a win and thats all and no one talks about it.

My only question, why do our good players play good against good teams THEN against the poor teams our good players are still in the dressing room texting and Instagraming to each other how good they are.

I actually think it's a coaching problem not a player problem. we dont lack skills or stuff like that, we lack motivation.

Bank the points and lets never talk about this again.

 

[matwt73]

Without a doubt the lowest point of the last 7 years. This essendon team is missing half of their players, and we barely scraped over the line against them. A real champion team should have won this by 100+. Games like this is why we're pretenders and won't accomplish anything this season. The north game, the melbourne game, the essendon game, the collingwood game. This one somehow tops the rest as being more embarrasing than the other. The only positive to be taken from tonight is that i don't have to watch this garbage anymore.

Not even the lowest point of the last 7 weeks. Granted the third quarter was as poor as we have played in a long time,

 

[Thedeftouch]

I do not understand why we don’t play more of our list with these short turn arounds.
Marshall, Bruce or Doedee or at least debuting Gallop could inject some much needed energy and pace.

So many of our boys out of form, turn up knowing there is no pressure to retain their spot in the side. They play like they are untouchable.

Levi needs a break.

It’s a challenge, they wanted to reward everyone from the hawthorn game last week but we also need to rotate players through to find our best team. Last year was a bit strange in that it was only due to injuries that young players like Morris and Lohmann were able to establish themselves as contributing players.

I’d look at resting Levi and dropping Gardiner to see what we have with other players

 

[StevoJenkins]

Lot of people not talking about Zorko’s awful kicking.

Third week in a row that his kicking has been sub par, missing targets and making bad decisions.

Saw Lester get a tad mad tonight. He and Andrews have been a bit out of character these past few weeks.

 

[notliondown]

Scholars will write books about our schizophrenic midfield... It's almost unfathomable the extremes in their play.

It directly corresponds with the distance people stay away from me during games...

My family, friends, neighbours, the people living 5 houses down and the police really wish they would get their shizen together.

 

[Lockie]

I’m thinking we need to manage the team better. Coming off those 5 day break and missing the bye is also a factor. Need to bring in some of the players in the VFL - Neville etc and give Zorko etc a break. Collingwood and the Cats are good at managing their players and they don’t travel as much as we do. Really frustrating game.

 

[acuguy]

When we move away from playing team first footy we fall away badly. The lack of front and centre work from our forward line was a prime example, everyone flying! Charlie Cameron

23

Charlie Cameron

Age

31

Ht

180cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.1

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

3.7

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

2star

K

7.9

3star

HB

1.7

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.7

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.4

2star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.2

4star

is a massive concern, we need to get Kiddy into the team, is there an option to roll him forward for the rest of the season?

 

[Nunez]

Reverse flat track bullies. Play very average football against poor teams and well against good teams. Hopefully we can snag one more win before the bye.

 

[troppo]

We played well in the first quarter but then decided the job was done and put the cue in the rack. I’m not that concerned about the way we play in these rounds as long as we win. If we are playing this way in round 20 it will be time to get worried. Another four points in the bank and we move on. I got reminded tonight how feral Bomber supporters behave.

 

[Zacs_Magic_Tooth]

Job done tonight off a short break. Got to be a touch more careful, sides around us have easier runs home. Wouldn’t want to lose the double chance because of a couple of losses to weak sides.

 

[matwt73]

We played well in the first quarter but then decided the job was done and put the cue in the rack. I’m not that concerned about the way we play in these rounds as long as we win. If we are playing this way in round 20 it will be time to get worried. Another four points in the bank and we move on. I got reminded tonight how feral Bomber supporters behave.

The bombers fans near us were all great. Happy for them to have seen some spark from their boys, so long as we got the chocolates.

 

[Tom14]

Tbh, i really couldn't give a toss. I saw a shit performance, so i'm going to call it a shit performance.

It was a bad performance. It was not the worst performance in 7 years.