Elixuh
See you on the 9th green at 9
Our second trip to Marvel Stadium this season to take on Carlton, in what is another must win for us as we try to build some continuity and get our season on track.
Team changes
After a good win against Essendon and true to form, I don’t expect that Fagan will make any unforced changes this week.
If J Berry misses through injury we will likely bring in Dev based on current form.
Sitting directly above the bench last night, it did not look like the coaches, Doc or physio were overly concerned about Oscar, so I think he will play.
2021 season form
Brisbane come into this game with a slightly disappointing record – two wins and three losses. However, the three losses have come against teams that many pundits are predicting to be top sides this year and Brisbane has been competitive in almost each of those games.
Carlton comes into the game with the same record as Brisbane, having beaten Fremantle and Gold Coast. Carlton’s most recent match against Port Adelaide was probably their most disappointing of the season given Port’s injuries (a significant portion of Carlton’s score was kicked in junk time at the end of the match).
Head to head
The Blues do not have as high quality depth as the Lions, which we should be able to exploit. They are also very reliant on the likes of Harry McKay
PLAYERCARDSTART
10
Harry Mckay
- Age
- 26
- Ht
- 200cm
- Wt
- 106kg
- Pos.
- Fwd
Career
Season
Last 5
- D
- 9.9
- 3star
- K
- 7.5
- 3star
- HB
- 2.4
- 2star
- M
- 5.5
- 5star
- T
- 1.6
- 4star
- G
- 1.4
- 5star
- D
- 6.6
- 1star
- K
- 4.6
- 2star
- HB
- 2.0
- 1star
- M
- 3.6
- 4star
- T
- 1.4
- 2star
- G
- 1.4
- 5star
- D
- 8.8
- 3star
- K
- 6.8
- 3star
- HB
- 2.0
- 2star
- M
- 4.4
- 4star
- T
- 0.8
- 3star
- G
- 2.0
- 5star
PLAYERCARDEND
Can we smell what the Blues are cooking?
Five rounds in and I don’t think anyone has a gauge on what the Blues are cooking. Saturday’s Port Adelaide game represented the first of a stretch of difficult games for the Blues. The outcome of these games will define the club’s season.
Carlton look very much like a Jekyll and Hyde team this season. There are half a dozen players who will generally turn up week in week out and then a dozen or so who are hot and cold. Last night they were cold and lacked basic effort in the contest. I’m sure this will be reviewed and these same players will come out hot next week so we will need to prepare for Carlton’s best.
Lions with some form
Using most recent form as a guide I think we stack up well against the Blues. While it is hard to get a true gauge having played half of the game against Essendon in torrential rain, our midfield look to be back on song and our forward and backlines have been bolstered with the addition of Gardiner and McStay.
Pretty basic but the things I will be looking for this week are:
- our ability to win the ball at the contest and win it back when we don’t have it;
- our work-rate when we don’t have the ball;
- players creating options and moving further up the field; and
- our ability to take marks inside 50 on a dry deck.
Things to look out for
There are a few but I’ll focus on four:
- A revitalised Charlie – after a dip in form I think Charlie is working his way back now and gave a much contribution last night.
- The holy trinity – the flexibility of having Daniher, Hipwood and McStay could be the difference this year as we work our way back into some form. They worked well together in their first outing so it will be interesting to see how it goes this week on a dry deck.
- Midfield on the hunt – we need consistent performance out of our midfield brigade so will be looking for our mids to give a repeat performance.
- Rich and Birch – Rich has been terrific nuff said. I have probably been unfairly critical of Birch throughout periods but when you see his ball use and the options he will pick to open it up for us you cannot doubt his importance to the side.
Not enough time to read all of the above…?
Lions by 5 goals.