Review Round 17, 2023 - Brisbane Lions vs. West Coast

[p4p1]

Credit to Gunston for 6 goals, he proved the training block did pay dividends for him. What better way to test his readiness than wheel him in front of Demons at MCG. We have to back him in now.

A run in the 2’s. A loss to Melbourne means an end to our top 2 chances most likely.

 

[p4p1]

The most important thing to me was that he just looked FIT today. Quality of opposition be damned, because he played pretty terribly against other lower ranked teams earlier in the year as well - because he wasn’t fit. He played well today and part of it was probably the quality of defence, sure, but above all else he looked a) fit and b) hungry. He doesn’t need to kick 6 every week, but as long as he makes a contest.

And isn’t a disadvantage defensively. We can’t play 17 vs 18 on defence and expect to win big games in the later stages.

 

[p4p1]

No. You’re right it used to be considered prior opportunity to do so but not anymore.

Which is still crazy to me.

 

[p4p1]

Best defensive set up he's seen this year Apparently.

The style he had them play after quarter time meant it was only about damage limitation, not actually kicking scores.
But I do think our defence has turned into one of the best in the league.

 

[p4p1]

Ah Chee as sub and as soon as they are crumbing the ball and rebounding our f50 entries, sun Gunston out

Not with the way we use our sub. Ah Chee will get 10 mins of game time.

 

[p4p1]

I thought our defence was watertight.

Harris and Jack Payne complement each other beautifully. Wilmott is a gun and Frog is in career best form not to mention that Starc is a lock every week

Then their is Kiddy, who together with Wilmott, provides flare and imagination with their run and exquisite skills.Similarly, it's hard to fault the way McKenna is playing

Rich and Gardiner have been wonderful players for us but the current back six/seven have been doing a bang up job and none of them deserve to go out of the side.

I had kiddy in my top 5 today, when there was still a game on and the eagles were making an attempt to score I thought he was fantastic.

 

[Section 5]

We had Freo at 1:45 pm Saturday here as well. The great thing is that today had 24800 in attendance and the Freo game had 25500. Great crowds compared to 6-7 years ago which would have had 12k.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I forgot about that Freo one
I mentioned earlier this week that a crowd of 25K would be a very good result against a very bad Eagles outfit.
They don't have a huge following in Brisbane even when they are going okay.
Last weekend of school holidays but the AFL's children fee would have helped.
Also, the Lions have been promoting the give or return your ticket so that should also help attendance numbers.

The club should be very happy with that number.

 

[lioninthesand]

Most areas were good. Clearance, ball movement, pressure, defence. Solid. That was until it got 50 meters from goal. Beyond a clinical 8-9 minutes late in 1st - our execution inside 50 was mind numbingly poor at times. The absolute waste was hard to sit through.

Charlie poor. Joe, who I like, had one of his worst games for the club, just unwatchable. Frees againts, bad decisions, flying for speccys that wernt there, lairising at times. He will just never string 4 games together.

The last kick inside 50, work at ground level, execution and general forward craft was average, it has been for 2 months and a wart like that will cost us in a big final.

Eagles wernt good at all. People saying ‘they went defensive’ or ‘made it a slog’ - it was literally training drill level of intensity most of the game, we just kept kicking it to dumb spots over and over. We left 10 goals on the table EASY!

Like we say every 2nd week at this time of year, ‘take the points and move on’.

Clugg good. Ashy good. Harris AA. Gunners great. Rayner good. Neale flying.

 

[JB42]

Not really, no one has said he isn’t excellent with ball in hand. Because he is, yes he looks better but against the eagles doesn’t mean much either.
What everyone was worried about and some even called, was that he or the club would choose to bring him back against the Eagles, he would have a good game and then would be a liability once we play top teams. Jayden Hunt isn’t noted for his key defence playing capabilities.

Agree, his class and know how got it done today. It his lack of recovery, inability to give second efforts, inability to chase, tackle etc... that I think was and will continue to be exploited. A soft kill may be good for his confidence, but the jury is still out.

 

[3KZ is Football]

I am waiting for 3KZ is Football to log on and make a heartfelt apology to Jack and Fages.

I see Gunston. I see May, Lever, Petty. I see Stewart, Ratugolea, De Koning. I see Moore, Howe, Quaynor. The Horror! The Horror!

 

[JB42]

I think Ah Chee can offer similar defensively but use it much better

Ah Chee has a class edge over Dev. More versatile too, can play as a third tall forward or back and very good over head. Also can play wing role. I think he offers more for finals... especially if someone goes down early in a game.
Dev' is a two grab player, rarely clean with first touch. I like his size, strength and endeavour, but I think he has some limitations which are unlikely to be overcome.

 

[Quested]

Good enough % booster, no injuries, all in all a good outcome. We were a bit wayward in front of goal and clearly weren't out to demolish the Eagles, but they also showed last week they have a few things they've worked on as well.

There's a risk playing Gunston next week, but he does have more experience at the MCG than probably any of our other players, and that could be handy. Would like to see Ah Chee is a sub if Gunston is selected, though I imagine Fort is more likely given the dual ruck match up.

 

[Sproj]

Lions have the best attack in the league based on F/A and fourth best defense. Collingwood have the third best attack and best defense. We are a hundred ahead of them in scoring and about a hundred behind defending but since the Hawks disaster, our defense has really tightened up after the Swans game. Please do not mess with this new side coach.

 

[Lazza16]

Last week = Gunston
Today= Jack

 

[3KZ is Football]

Last week = Gunston
Today= Jack

Next week = You’re Kidding!

 

[Strato]

Most areas were good. Clearance, ball movement, pressure, defence. Solid. That was until it got 50 meters from goal. Beyond a clinical 8-9 minutes late in 1st - our execution inside 50 was mind numbingly poor at times. The absolute waste was hard to sit through.

Charlie poor. Joe, who I like, had one of his worst games for the club, just unwatchable. Frees againts, bad decisions, flying for speccys that wernt there, lairising at times. He will just never string 4 games together.

The last kick inside 50, work at ground level, execution and general forward craft was average, it has been for 2 months and a wart like that will cost us in a big final.

Eagles wernt good at all. People saying ‘they went defensive’ or ‘made it a slog’ - it was literally training drill level of intensity most of the game, we just kept kicking it to dumb spots over and over. We left 10 goals on the table EASY!

Like we say every 2nd week at this time of year, ‘take the points and move on’.

Clugg good. Ashy good. Harris AA. Gunners great. Rayner good. Neale flying.

Not looking at the amount we won by but our performance was just average against the bottom side. Our last MCG game against Hawthorn was a disaster and hence going to the "G" again does not give me confidence of victory which we need to win in hope of getting top two.. Melbourne are not on top of their game so victory is possible if we play well. Selection is critical and lazy dumb football is out. Fagan has has 10 losses at the G so hopefully that changes? We have many things going well for us but our concerns need addressing

 

[Ad Astra]

Regarding our important six percentage points increase: let’s imagine the opposition had kicked five extra goals and finished at 10.5.65. I’d still regard that as a good defensive effort on our part and definitely a losing score on theirs. Had that happened, for our percentage to rise to 133.2 from 127.19, we would have to have scored 156 points ie. either 26.0,25.6,24.12,23.18…
23.18 to 10.5 . Woeful inaccuracy but still looks pretty good.
I think most of us would have gone to bed happy little vegemites. Jack , (sorry, Mr.Gunston) would have kicked eight. (Also, it would have been 21 degrees in Melbourne, the war would be over and Scott Morrison would be in jail for robodebt. Let the good times roll.)

 

[Brett C]

I had kiddy in my top 5 today, when there was still a game on and the eagles were making an attempt to score I thought he was fantastic.

Coleman is so poor defensively, gets caught is no man’s land often through the game and lacks effort to track back on his man.

If Rich or Gunston defender the same way they’d get shot by a lot of posters on here.

 

[M Malice]

Coleman is so poor defensively, gets caught is no man’s land often through the game and lacks effort to track back on his man.

If Rich or Gunston defender the same way they’d get shot by a lot of posters on here.

Not seeing it, IMO Kiddy is a good defender, gets into good positions, great closing speed, shows desperation and takes courageous marks.

 

[Brett C]

Not seeing it, IMO Kiddy is a good defender, gets into good positions, great closing speed, shows desperation and takes courageous marks.

Not sure you’ve watched him closely to then.

Does a handful of very good things defensively each game but otherwise is average.

Worst part is that he lacks effort quite often.

 

[Warwick]

I’m not sure why people get so upset about us not destroying weak competition. Since 2019 we have very rarely shown to be a side who does that.

For the most part it has not affected the way we play the better teams despite being continuously told otherwise. Our inability to feast on the carcass of West Coast hardly makes us less of a premiership threat.

 

[a mayes ing]

It looks like we are starting to use Ashcroft more on those 1 -2's that he does. Heard from yesterday that he is number 1 in the competition for making a clearance an effective clearance. What a talent. Fletcher as well, still could do with getting the ball more but just looks classy and kicks the ball well. Our young guns have great potential

 

[Warwick]

It looks like we are starting to use Ashcroft more on those 1 -2's that he does. Heard from yesterday that he is number 1 in the competition for making a clearance an effective clearance. What a talent. Fletcher as well, still could do with getting the ball more but just looks classy and kicks the ball well. Our young guns have great potential

Hilarious to hear opposition supporters criticise him for “padding his stats”.

Those 1-2s are vastly different from the circle-jerk work you see from Macrae/Treloar and co.

Ashcroft wins the hard ball, typically finds a teammate with hand or foot, and busts a gut to provide that running option. By doing that he creates space and overlap to find someone up field. Turns a stagnant clearance into a clear and effective possession.

 

[Ad Astra]

Not sure you’ve watched him closely to then.

Does a handful of very good things defensively each game but otherwise is average.

Worst part is that he lacks effort quite often.

My feeling is that , once he knows he’s not going to impact the rest of the contest, (out of position, tackle doesn’t stick etc.), he doesn’t waste energy by flailing desperately but in vain. This amplifies the perception of him not trying hard enough while I’d wager his effective defensive work is as good as the other defenders. Wilmott can look that way as well. It’s because he’s calculating when to best intervene without going to ground. When, through bad luck or the odd miscalculation, it doesn’t come off, it looks like like he’s not going in hard enough.

 

[Ad Astra]

Hilarious to hear opposition supporters criticise him for “padding his stats”.

Those 1-2s are vastly different from the circle-jerk work you see from Macrae/Treloar and co.

Ashcroft wins the hard ball, typically finds a teammate with hand or foot, and busts a gut to provide that running option. By doing that he creates space and overlap to find someone up field. Turns a stagnant clearance into a clear and effective possession.

I had that slightly negative perception of him too. But the last couple of games have changed that. In some of his other high stats games he’d get a bunch of cheap passes in the backline, then hang on to the ball for ages and give a short kick backwards or sideways with no offensive value.
But recently he’s shown he wins his own ball, tackles very effectively, and his disposal has been creative and highly skilled.
It shows he’s a great learner. He watches what the guns can do and emulates them. He just can’t possibly have peaked at eighteen so the plaudits he’s receiving now are fully justified. Had my doubts, thought he was overrated, but not now. Champion in the making.