Review Round 12, 2025 - Brisbane Lions vs. Essendon

[WheildonTheAxe]

I'm confused, did we actually lose and I wasn't paying attention??

Got to say, I think the vibe on this review is pretty ungrateful! Sure, after the first quarter I thought we were going to have a lovely big win too. But the bombers really came back into it, their pressure was high and Caldwell, Martin and Caddy (think we got that matchup wrong) were all excellent

We fought really hard in that last quarter and it was a mature performance. Yes, there's still lots of things to tweak and we have some weaknesses. A win is still a win and I love it when we win!

My gosh, Hush was insane. I want to give him two of my votes. Awesome Lohman and Morris could finish it out for us. Bailey and Berry had good moments.

A tricky three weeks stands between us and a week off. Can't wait to see how we go. Carn the lions.

 

[Elixuh]

Just walked off the 18th at Royal Dornoch. Lovely course. Haven’t watched the game but assume from the comments here we will be sacking Fagan first thing Monday. He has ruined this club.

 

[Mr Ripper]

My gosh, Hush was insane.

Bit OT for a match review, but bloody oath!

 

[Brizzys Squizzy]

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.

Give the hysteria a spell

 

[Lazza16]

It is what it is....

 

[3KZ is Football]

Lester, Answerth, Wilmott and Fletcher were good in defence all night. Payne was having a low IQ night and again, he and Andrews played too wide of their opponents.

McCluggage was excellent.

 

[braddsey]

Oh give it a break mate .your posting is embarrassing tonight .

 

[Brizzys Squizzy]

Kicked 1.6 in second qtr hurt us a little bit, reminded me of our old habits over the last few seasons. Any win is a good win,up the mighty LIONS.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Really worried about where Chuck's at. Answerth putting together a very good season.

 

[braddsey]

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

2nd year blues... considering he missed most of a season with an ACL.

 

[Berrygood]

5 day break, a lot of fumbling, kicking off a bit, went away from what we were doing well early. Nothing that can't be fixed.

A lot of hysterical posting, a lot of unnecessary bagging of players. Calling for players to be dropped, blaming coaches, anyone would think we lost. Again if you're expecting perfect players every week, go and support the Harlem Globetrotters.

A few days off, get some rest into the legs n niggles. Freshen up, get some good training sessions in and they'll be right for the Crows.

 

[Section 5]

We got the 4 points and no injuries although Lohmann limped off at one stage.
He played out the game and kicked a few so should be okay.
The last time we had a 5 day break we lost by 50+ admittingly to a better Pies side.
Essendon played pretty well except for the 1st quarter.

Essendon were very accurate kicking 11.6
A couple of excellent goals that would miss 9 out of 10 times.
Of the 6 behinds 1 was just touched on the goal line and 1 rushed.
They gave us a scare, but we got the win which is all that matters at this stage of the year

 

[ZoBlitz]

Some reactions here suggest some won't survive us being an actual terrible side again compared to the generally average performance tonight.

 

[Paul Mac]

6 day break against the hawks, 5 day break against the bombers. 2 wins from consecutive short breaks , not pretty footy tonight but 8 points so lets move forward.

 

[braddsey]

I didn't watch the entire game, but 25 scoring shots to 17 shows that it wasn't all bad. We clearly won the first and last quarter and should have won the 2nd. Essendon clearly had the momentum in the 3rd, but you need momentum for more than a quarter.

Hugh was awesome, good to see Kai back doing some good things.

Appreciate I half watched the game on delay and knew the result, but it really wasn't as bad as this forum makes out. We're simply not going to play our 100% best footy every week. We're on top of the ladder FFS.

People should go back and watch Hugh's post match interview with Lynchy - he says it all pretty well.

 

[luthor]

5 day break, a lot of fumbling, kicking off a bit, went away from what we were doing well early. Nothing that can't be fixed.

A lot of hysterical posting, a lot of unnecessary bagging of players. Calling for players to be dropped, blaming coaches, anyone would think we lost. Again if you're expecting perfect players every week, go and support the Harlem Globetrotters.

A few days off, get some rest into the legs n niggles. Freshen up, get some good training sessions in and they'll be right for the Crows.

Yes. Reading through the thread, you might think we lost by 6 goals if you didn't know the outcome.

Some here appear to struggle with the reality that other teams don't just turn up their toes because they are behind on the scoreboard and are playing us at the Gabba. Blowouts are rare in the Comp these days

Essendon were 6-4 coming into this game

We are the Premiers and the "enemy" are always going to bring their best.

There were many disappointing moments tonight but when we were seriously challenged in the last quarter, we dug in and found the last three goals of the game to record a gutsy win. We controlled the end of that game really well.

Geelong and Collingwood, the Premiers of 2022 and 2023 couldn't even make the Finals the following year.

Unless we really fall in a hole, it's unlikely we'll suffer the same fate in 2025.

 

[luthor]

Some reactions here suggest some won't survive us being an actual terrible side again compared to the generally average performance tonight.

I would fear for the welfare of some here if we had another Leppitsch era anytime this century

Remember when we used to refer to most of the "good" teams' supporters as "self-entitled"?

 

[Lace Out]

Really worried about where Chuck's at. Answerth putting together a very good season.

Surprised the last couple of weeks seen Noah likes to sit on heads.His confidence is very good atm

His all round improvement and toughness has alleviated the loss of Starce

 

[pod17]

Three concerning things for mine.

The first is that teams are coming for our uncontested mark game, like others did to Geelong in 2023, with more success than last year. Last year we had Daniher who was always a reliable target long when we needed the bail out option to either mark or cause a reset further down the ground. At the moment we are struggling to adapt when we can’t get those marks stacked up.

The second is a tendency to lose ascendency at the stoppages. Neale and Ashcroft aren’t the most accountable types - and fair enough most of the time given their quality - so if Dunkley or Berry are having an off game, we can’t halt momentum.

The third is that our backline looks loose without Starce - I am talking about when we’ve got time to set up, not when we are caught out by a turnover. It is noticeable how tight Answerth plays compared to the other 5 - he again was fantastic tonight. They also went to work on Zorko, which made Coleman being out hurt more.

To our credit, we’re still winning games, and the problems are solvable (albeit the first one more challenging). Essendon came primed, but we still found a way. Last week showed when we are switched on our best is impressive. I’m confident we will see a strong second half of the year, and performances a lot better than tonight starting with the Crows next week when we’ve freshened up off longer break.

 

[Elixuh]

Some reactions here suggest some won't survive us being an actual terrible side again compared to the generally average performance tonight.

Wrong. Tonight was the lowest point for the club since Daniel Rich threw that kebab and Rueben Williams wore black face.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Wrong. Tonight was the lowest point for the club since Daniel Rich threw that kebab and Rueben Williams wore black face.

Even handed assessment there.

 

[Lazza16]

Bombres must be kicking themselves after picking back pocket McGrath over super duper Hugh in the draft.....

 

[Lace Out]

Bombres must be kicking themselves after picking back pocket McGrath over super duper Hugh in the draft.....

I think the kicking started before tonight

 

[mighty_lions]

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.

ive cracked the code


You are Dylan

 

[sleepylion]

IDK guys but these kind of games only cement to me that we're on track. In previous years, we would have lost these games where we switch off the gas at half time, kick poorly, the score is close, etc. and it was discussed immensely last year during the regular season. The media was always saying "what are they going to do come finals time?" and then finals time came and the same thing happened BUT we dominated games when they mattered the most.

• awful loss against Collingwood in rd 23: "they've lost a top 4 spot and subsequently blown a premiership in one game".
• elimination final against Carlton: 60-0 at one point but then we missed so many kicks and were really low energy in the second half, so the final score was 99-71. All the commentary was "yeah okay they do it now but what about when it matters? I can't see them keeping it up".
• semi final against GWS: it was 80-36 with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Our energy was awful the first two quarters but we showed up when it mattered most.
• preliminary final against Geelong: down 61-36 in the third after leading in the first and then blew another lead in the fourth but we locked in when it mattered most.
• grand final: it all came together on the day perfectly. The boys recognised the moment and stood up. Sydney had played more consistently all year but they lost by 10 goals when it mattered most.

It is a luxury that we are managing to keep the wins ticking over in the meantime - it will give us an extra chance in September and some more home finals. Let's keep figuring out what our best squad is without Joe. Let's prove we can have consistent stretches of game play where we are switched on and look like the best team in the competition but appreciate that it is unrealistic to be expecting this constantly. Last year proved to me that our boys know how to win when the time comes and I don't see disfunction or panic, so I'm trusting the squad can do the same again this year.

On another note, Hugh McCluggage

6

Hugh Mccluggage

Age

27

Ht

187cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.3

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

7.9

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.0

5star

CL

2.2

4star

D

19.0

4star

K

12.0

5star

HB

7.0

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

2.0

4star

D

13.2

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

CL

0.6

3star

!!!!!!!!!!