Review Round 14, 2025 - Brisbane Lions vs. GWS

[Nathan Barley]

The biggest stain against Fagan's legacy is that he hasn't been able to fix our poor goalkicking. 13.18 is embarrassing for a premiership team, like last week was embarrassing. He refuses to fix this and our results show for it. We're not the best team in the competition, but his inability to do anything about this annoys the hell out of me. Whenever we take a set shot, i'm already accepting that it will miss. Tbh, i'm happy that we lost. No team who can't kick straight should win a game of football. It's the most basic fundamental skill and we can't even do that. If we're a team who can't even do the basics well, then we don't deserve anything. Also, watch fagan not fix this again.

Our results show for it?

Being the reigning premiers?

 

[GenericUsername202]

Our results show for it?

Being the reigning premiers?

Did you watch that grand final? We should have won it by 20 goals. We missed so many sitters that day. Also, how about the GWS game 2 weeks before. Before that amazing comeback, we were 4 goals 13. How about last week? Or this week? I could draw 100 games from the past 4/5 years that we have had a negative scoreline.

 

[Nathan Barley]

What does Lester contribute in games like today? How many times did we see him go third man up when Cadman or Hogan were going for a mark?

This is why Doedee was recruited and becomes an option with Payne done for the year

 

[Toffee Lion]

Cmon there's enough evidence now to suggest we haven't been playing very well this year and are a long way behind where we were in the second half of last year

And yet some people on here act like we are in the doldrums. You can’t win every game, poor kicking today cost us, not much else.

Also took a miracle game from GWS to kick as straight as they did, it happens.

The sky is not falling.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Did you watch that grand final? We should have won it by 20 goals. We missed so many sitters that day. Also, how about the GWS game 2 weeks before. Before that amazing comeback, we were 4 goals 13. How about last week? Or this week? I could draw 100 games from the past 4/5 years that we have had a negative scoreline.

So we should’ve won more premierships?

 

[RoyBoy17]

Poor attitude and pathetic effort to match. Goes hand in hand. And it reflects in the goal kicking. They don’t look tuned in.

No excuses today. GWS couldn’t score lately and we let them transition at will with poor effort and potentially ill prepared plans.

It took 2 hours of footy to go hard man on man from kick ins. Just crazy.

Last week I was proud of the effort, today was just crap. I think there is this air of “we’ll flick the switch in time for finals”. Doesn’t work like that.

Worst performance of the year so far for mine.

 

[Nathan Barley]

And yet some people on here act like we are in the doldrums. You can’t win every game, poor kicking today cost us, not much else.

Also took a miracle game from GWS to kick as straight as they did, it happens.

The sky is not falling.

It clearly wasn’t a miracle game. Seriously dumb perspective on the game and questionable if people watched it. They were easy set shots and unpressured shots in general play. Far from a miracle game

And this feeds into why people are questioning the side. We’re not working hard enough to pressure and are not dealing with the pressure as well as a realistic contender should

 

[GenericUsername202]

So we should’ve won more premierships?

Honestly, yeah. If we were an accurate team, we would have 2 premierships right now, and that GWS comeback game would have been over half time. We also would have been on top of the ladder as well this year. In the end, poor kicking = poor football. And we are a team who can't do the basics and we deserve to lose because of it.

 

[The Zork]

I’m not sure what our biggest weakness is..
Inability to pressure the ball carrier
Or
Inability to apply scoreboard pressure.

We give every single team we play against a look in because of the above.

 

[SpecialBruce]

Ideal scenario is a youngster knocking on the door. We just don’t have anyone to step up.

Bruce

 

[LoganMorrisFan]

And yet some people on here act like we are in the doldrums. You can’t win every game, poor kicking today cost us, not much else.

Also took a miracle game from GWS to kick as straight as they did, it happens.

The sky is not falling.

Sky not falling but pretending we only got beaten because of accuracy is just delusional. Low effort performance with many not even prepared to jog at times. 28 tackles for a game is pathetic

 

[SpecialBruce]

Sign Morris up on a bigger deal than Pickett.

Keep Hipwood down back as Morris operates better without him

 

[MSB ROYS]

The selectors have had Gardiner in the team for most of the year and the week we really needed him, he wasn't in the team.

On reflection, Day and Starcevich were underdone and when combined with players out of form (in particular Cameron and Lohman) made it difficult. Bailey had his usual rocks and diamonds game. Also, too many players went missing for extended chunks of the game. Combine that with a lack of defensive work and we got what we deserved.

Amazingly, we still had enough chances to win the game. Morris and Ah Chee stood out to me.

 

[pod17]

I’m not sure where Fages goes with the inaccuracy messaging. It’s plagued us for years, is now costing us wins more regularly, and importantly - he’s already played the Ted Lasso goldfish card!

It’s also an issue with field kicking which is copping less attention. A lot of issues down back with Payne off, so that is somewhat to be expected. I don’t see Hipwood delivering much in the role so it’s time to see if Gardiner can still contribute at AFL level there.

There are plenty of negatives to point out, and I think many are obvious (Charlie etc). Positives for mine include Logan and Day, with Ah Chee okay at times.

We know we are a fair way off our best, so it could turn around if we can change some things up. We know Fagan doesn’t like to swing the axe, but I don’t think the same candidates can be omitted given the likes of Charlie are spitting out indefensible numbers - 0 tackles (he wasn’t alone) for a small forward that isn’t kicking goals is twos territory.

 

[Toffee Lion]

It clearly wasn’t a miracle game. Seriously dumb perspective on the game and questionable if people watched it. They were easy set shots and unpressured shots in general play. Far from a miracle game

And this feeds into why people are questioning the side. We’re not working hard enough to pressure and are not dealing with the pressure as well as a realistic contender should

It’s not a dumb perspective to suggest a team kicking 12.1 set shots is not sustainable, nor is it entirely down to a complete lack of pressure as they’re set shots.

Quite a few of which were out wide.

While I appreciate your ability to always find the negatives, it’s not all doom & gloom all the time, even when we lose, which all teams do.

 

[Nathan Barley]

The selectors have had Gardiner in the team for most of the year and the week we really needed him, he wasn't in the team.

On reflection, Day and Starcevich were underdone and when combined with players out of form (in particular Cameron and Lohman) made it difficult. Bailey had his usual rocks and diamonds game. Also, too many players went missing for extended chunks of the game. Combine that with a lack of defensive work and we got what we deserved.

Amazingly, we still had enough chances to win the game. Morris and Ah Chee stood out to me.

It’s funny reflecting on some of the comments on here when Dizzy was the sub and Berry was concussed early. Would’ve looked like a smart move having him as the sub today

Reminded me of when Fort was the sub then a couple of weeks later we had a small as the sub and Oscar was knocked out in the first minute (maybe the Richmond final)

 

[Toffee Lion]

Sky not falling but pretending we only got beaten because of accuracy is just delusional. Low effort performance with many not even prepared to jog at times. 28 tackles for a game is pathetic

I could be wrong, maybe but typically a goalkicking disparity as large as today is usually quite a large factor in the final result.

While it’s certainly not the entire story, it plays a large chapter. I think a lot of people expect this team to be sensational every week because our best is very good but they’re humans and won’t be capable of that effort every week.

Many on here are way to harsh on players & the team, especially since we just won the bloody flag.

 

[Nathan Barley]

It’s not a dumb perspective to suggest a team kicking 12.1 set shots is not sustainable, nor is it entirely down to a complete lack of pressure as they’re set shots.

Quite a few of which were out wide.

While I appreciate your ability to always find the negatives, it’s not all doom & gloom all the time, even when we lose, which all teams do.

What you’re mistaken about is we’re not saying it’s all doom and gloom. We just have set a very high bar being the reigning premiers

 

[Nathan Barley]

How many easy set shots did we miss? Charlie’s?

Most were in play under pressure which can’t be generated at training. Like last week

 

[MSB ROYS]

It’s funny reflecting on some of the comments on here when Dizzy was the sub and Berry was concussed early. Would’ve looked like a smart move having him as the sub today

Reminded me of when Fort was the sub then a couple of weeks later we had a small as the sub and Oscar was knocked out in the first minute (maybe the Richmond final)

Yes, our subs have rarely had an impact all year.

 

[Hirsty23]

Love this team but they are becoming a bit frustrating to watch each week. Poor goalkicking has cost us the last two weeks but there's a more alarming pattern building. We seem to get 4 or 5 goals up and then our pressure drops completely. It's happened in the Roos, Demons, Essendon, Crows and Giants games in the last six weeks. They're picking and choosing when to play and it's a really bad habit.

Think we may have already dropped too many games against teams we should be beating comfortably. Anyway, it's footy. Making 3 grand finals in a row is bloody tough, maybe it won't happen this year. Our best footy is still right up there but their mentality doesn't look right thus far.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Yes, our subs have rarely had an impact all year.

Most don’t

 

[Toffee Lion]

What you’re mistaken about is we’re not saying it’s all doom and gloom. We just have set a very high bar being the reigning premiers

I mean that’s the crux of the issue. Being the reigning premiers sets a level of expectation but how many premiers go on to win two in a row? Especially in the modern era.

It’s incredibly difficult. Teams like GWS come into today knowing they have to be perfect, they amp themselves up for the challenge.

The competition is so even and we’ve been at the top for a decent period, teams know how to play against us. We’ve lost two games against solid opposition, who look at us as a benchmark and we were a bit below our best, it happens.

 

[KissKiss]

It’s funny reflecting on some of the comments on here when Dizzy was the sub and Berry was concussed early. Would’ve looked like a smart move having him as the sub today

Reminded me of when Fort was the sub then a couple of weeks later we had a small as the sub and Oscar was knocked out in the first minute (maybe the Richmond final)

It's a numbers game. There are what at least double the small players to tall players. So the chances of injuries will be to a small. Occasionally a big guy will go down and it will suck but it's less likely than the other way around

 

[Dalions]

Curled up our toes after half time!