Review Round 18, 2023 - Melbourne vs. Brisbane Lions

[Rouge 9917]

I’d be rapt if we just finished 3rd tbh. No chance of top 2. That was gone after the hawks debacle. Then if there was a smidgen of hope that was eliminated on Friday. We have to do it the hard way unfortunately.

Demons apparently have an easier run home so their percentage will likely increase and we could end up 4th.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Yes Port could easily lose a few more, to come > Pies(H), Crows(H), Cats(A), Giants(H), Dockers(A), Tigers(H). It's no unreasonable to say they could realistically lose their next 3, of course we would have go on a winning run to go past them.

If they lose 3 we can only afford to lose 1 from here

 

[SizeMatters]

Rayner needs to overcome his deficiencies and adapt.

I get the sense that he's happy to cruise somewhat.

Any other top 8 team probably more than half wouldn't have him best 22. imo

 

[Section 5]

Finishing 3rd or 4th does not matter in my opinion.
Second spot is in reach then it is not, then it is, and then not and so on.
Hopefully if we beat the Cats 2nd comes into play again for another week.

 

[wattoxi]

Winning at the G first round of finals will give them plenty of confidence come the Grand Final anyway

 

[mpal6]

As I bleakly observed a number of rounds ago, after the Hawks debacle, I am unconvinced about this Lions side. We lack an essential toughness. No mistake we have the skills but when the going gets tough there are a few regulars who go missing.

E.g. Rayner. All the skills but apart from the odd cameo and repeated attempts at a screamer- just where are we? Needed are kamikaze attacks on the pill- don't get in my way stuff.

IMHO gets back to recruitment. Never mind the beep tests. What about the heart tests.

A comparison. Can anyone imagine the Cats coach so sanguine after a tragedy like Friday night. There would be blood on the floor. Never mind wrap the arms around stuff. What about kick up the arse stuff.

I am reliably informed the atmosphere in the Lions room after the game was very depressed. It should have been. Not acceptable. Career ending stuff.

Last point. Last year it was totally obvious we had a skills problem off HB. We still have. Same personnel. Same problem. Odd that.


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We've improved the level of skills off HB - we have McKenna, Coleman and Wilmot rebounding with dare/creativity these days. If you let them play the way they were attacking during 2nd and 3rd, we win that one.

Charlie passes to Coleman who goes long to a Daniher 1 on 1, we are talking a completely different outcome here. We just lost the will with a tactics directive to ice the game and rest just fell apart. This was not players losing their way in the midst and coming to a standstill. They were asked to implement something which handed the advantage back to opposition in a platter.

 

[The Zork]

Rayner needs to overcome his deficiencies and adapt.

I get the sense that he's happy to cruise somewhat.

Any other top 8 team probably more than half wouldn't have him best 22. imo

I don’t know if any of the top 8 would have Gunston in their 22.
Maybe St Kilda with a few keys out.

 

[lionsrules]

I’m still traumatised

 

[martinson]

I don’t know if any of the top 8 would have Gunston in their 22.
Maybe St Kilda with a few keys out.

The fact that we think Gunston is the man to send down back shows where Cam is at.

If he was up to more M/F minutes or a more important role we'd be giving it to him.

Maybe next year will be the breakout year.

He seemed right out of sorts this week. Not really settled in what he's meant to be doing.

 

[The Zork]

The fact that we think Gunston is the man to send down back shows where Cam is at.

If he was up to more M/F minutes or a more important role we'd be giving it to him.

Maybe next year will be the breakout year.

He seemed right out of sorts this week. Not really settled in what he's meant to be doing.

Perhaps they were inclined to use Gunston with Melbourne having the ability to have an extra tall and pick off long balls as a spare. Geelong can do that too so I expect Gunston to play this week too.

As a defender though I would be more nervous manning Rayner than Gunston. I would also be a lot more confident in running off Gunston.

Drop Gunston:
Lose a bit of structure in the air against tall back lines / gain some x factor in the air and on the deck.

Play Both:
Rayners role gets muddied.

 

[3KZ is Football]

He picks Fort as a sub and gets roasted on here. He doesn’t pick him and he gets roasted.

Classic stuff.

Not by the same people.

 

[3KZ is Football]

The fact that we think Gunston is the man to send down back shows where Cam is at.

If he was up to more M/F minutes or a more important role we'd be giving it to him.

Maybe next year will be the breakout year.

He seemed right out of sorts this week. Not really settled in what he's meant to be doing.

Cam Rayner will still be promising his ‘breakout year” in his late twenties.

 

[irish]

Absolute debarkle went to try and save the game way too early instead of trying to win the game , big o was poor at best not looking at the ball just looking at Gawn. Midfield just disappeared

The impact on our season is huge , totally stuffs our chance at making top 2 and not a home final

Just crap

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Here's a more positive perspective

As much as I was hurt by the loss I thought at least 80% of our performance was really encouraging and it has me feeling hopeful going forward for the remainder of the season and finals. Yeah we chocked a 26 point lead and that came down to a few factors that I'm confident the players will learn from this.

We lost because a combination of our poor start, some critical mistakes and in the last 10 - 15 minutes we stopped doing what was working for us up until that point of the game.

I was impressed by our fight back,we looked fantastic when we took the game on, moving with speed,confidence and supporting eachother. It may not have been a win but we proved we're capable of playing the MCG well. That was my takeaway.

 

[The Zork]

Cam Rayner will still be promising his ‘breakout year” in his late twenties.

You could argue Lester’s was in his early thirties

 

[PertRoosOsborne]

As I have watched this team develop over the past 5 years I often use the three-peat lions and other more recent premiership teams as a benchmark.

Premiership teams have a ruthlessness about them, both in personnel and how the team plays in differing game situations. Think of players like Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson

Age

49

Ht

180cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.7

4star

K

8.6

3star

HB

5.1

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.0

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.4

4star

, the Scott brothers, Pike and Mal Michael

Mal Michael

Age

48

Ht

190cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

5.1

2star

HB

4.7

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.2

3star

No current season stats available

D

6.4

2star

K

2.2

1star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

1.8

4star

. I ask myself do we have this ruthlessness, who are our tough bastards…..unfortunately I have never been able to answer yes or get past Starcevich as the only player with a bit of grunt.

It is so frustrating watching the team dominate games yet never feeling safe until the final siren sounds as we rarely finish teams off. I remember the 3 peat lions might have only been a couple of goals ahead at half time but I would have a little chuckle knowing that they would run the game out and finish teams off to win by a solid margin.

Friday night’s debacle is emblematic of us switching off, we are lucky that it hasn’t bitten us on the ass before.

The risk is the team will be looking over their shoulder and opposing teams will know that we will be shaky when they lift the intensity in the last quarter.

Interesting times ahead, a loss to geelong this week has the potential to completely derail our season.

 

[lionsrules]

As I have watched this team develop over the past 5 years I often use the three-peat lions and other more recent premiership teams as a benchmark.

Premiership teams have a ruthlessness about them, both in personnel and how the team plays in differing game situations. Think of players like Chris Johnson, the Scott brothers, Pike and Mal Michael. I ask myself do we have this ruthlessness, who are our tough bastards…..unfortunately I have never been able to answer yes or get past Starcevich as the only player with a bit of grunt.

It is so frustrating watching the team dominate games yet never feeling safe until the final siren sounds as we rarely finish teams off. I remember the 3 peat lions might have only been a couple of goals ahead at half time but I would have a little chuckle knowing that they would run the game out and finish teams off to win by a solid margin.

Friday night’s debacle is emblematic of us switching off, we are lucky that it hasn’t bitten us on the ass before.

The risk is the team will be looking over their shoulder and opposing teams will know that we will be shaky when they lift the intensity in the last quarter.

Interesting times ahead, a loss to geelong this week has the potential to completely derail our season.

This.
I played football for a club where we made the grand final (this would’ve been 9 years ago now). Browny came and did a pep talk before the game. In one sentence He basically said word for word “when you’re out there you need to have a bit of *unt in ya … go out there and be a bit of a *unt to the player you’re on or is on you, one chance so do that and get under the skin and make them work for it ” I’ll never forget that.
No one seem to make Gawn work for anything … he danced around as he pleased …

 

[western royboy]

As I have watched this team develop over the past 5 years I often use the three-peat lions and other more recent premiership teams as a benchmark.

Premiership teams have a ruthlessness about them, both in personnel and how the team plays in differing game situations. Think of players like Chris Johnson, the Scott brothers, Pike and Mal Michael. I ask myself do we have this ruthlessness, who are our tough bastards…..unfortunately I have never been able to answer yes or get past Starcevich as the only player with a bit of grunt.

It is so frustrating watching the team dominate games yet never feeling safe until the final siren sounds as we rarely finish teams off. I remember the 3 peat lions might have only been a couple of goals ahead at half time but I would have a little chuckle knowing that they would run the game out and finish teams off to win by a solid margin.

Friday night’s debacle is emblematic of us switching off, we are lucky that it hasn’t bitten us on the ass before.

The risk is the team will be looking over their shoulder and opposing teams will know that we will be shaky when they lift the intensity in the last quarter.

Interesting times ahead, a loss to geelong this week has the potential to completely derail our season.

Admittedly the game has changed but there’s a soft underbelly to this team which is continually exposed in crucial games - next week’s game us probably the line in the sand game for us - Friday night was brutal in terms of ladder position - the literally gave up a home final in week 1 - we could still have one but it will be an elimination version

 

[Big Sauce 21]

I have mentioned this before but I have a smidgen of doubt as to whether our boys are as dog hungry/relentless enough in pursuit of a flag as you need to be to grab the ultimate prize.

Based on no overt evidence just a bit of a gut feeling.

Berry stands out. Daniher as well. Neither care. Joe at least performs while not caring

 

[martinson]

As I have watched this team develop over the past 5 years I often use the three-peat lions and other more recent premiership teams as a benchmark.

Premiership teams have a ruthlessness about them, both in personnel and how the team plays in differing game situations. Think of players like Chris Johnson, the Scott brothers, Pike and Mal Michael. I ask myself do we have this ruthlessness, who are our tough bastards…..unfortunately I have never been able to answer yes or get past Starcevich as the only player with a bit of grunt.

It is so frustrating watching the team dominate games yet never feeling safe until the final siren sounds as we rarely finish teams off. I remember the 3 peat lions might have only been a couple of goals ahead at half time but I would have a little chuckle knowing that they would run the game out and finish teams off to win by a solid margin.

Friday night’s debacle is emblematic of us switching off, we are lucky that it hasn’t bitten us on the ass before.

The risk is the team will be looking over their shoulder and opposing teams will know that we will be shaky when they lift the intensity in the last quarter.

Interesting times ahead, a loss to geelong this week has the potential to completely derail our season.

A bit torn myself.

We should've won that match and it was really all on us at the end.

Trying to save a game when you're 4 goals up did my head in.

And no tactics to negate Gawn ,just keep kicking it straight to him.

I've been really optimistic about this year but we just don't seem to have the gorilla in us at crucial moments.

Living in hope that it all clicks into gear.

 

[martinson]

Berry stands out. Daniher as well. Neither care. Joe at least performs while not caring

Daniher's been awesome in nearly every game and as far as I can tell tries his guts out.

If you want to pick on anybody there's 18 in the queue ahead of him.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Daniher's been awesome in nearly every game and as far as I can tell tries his guts out.

If you want to pick on anybody there's 18 in the queue ahead of him.

I don't doubt he tries. He just doesn't care

 

[martinson]

I don't doubt he tries. He just doesn't care

I'd rather someone who has great ability and tries than someone who cares and can't do much.

Likewise I doubt he doesn't care. He plays like he does.

 

[western royboy]

I don't doubt he tries. He just doesn't care

I’ve no doubt he tries - it’s just the laconic nature - for supporters and neutrals he will always be a polarising figure

 

[martinson]

Admittedly the game has changed but there’s a soft underbelly to this team which is continually exposed in crucial games - next week’s game us probably the line in the sand game for us - Friday night was brutal in terms of ladder position - the literally gave up a home final in week 1 - we could still have one but it will be an elimination version

I think its happened so many times now in crucial games that the guys need to grit their teeth and show some real determination under pressure ,or we'll always be exposed by teams of similar ability who just have more desire.

Sad to say that's the equation.

We're still in a position to really contend this year , not many injuries, it's up to us.