Preview Round 9, 2023: Brisbane Lions vs. Essendon Bombers, Saturday 13th May, 7:25. Gabba

[M Malice]

Cam Rayner mentioned about wanting to get one back from last years Covid loss.
I don’t think the team will be going into this one with any complacency.

+ Selecting Zorko and not giving him another week off is also a sign we are not complacent.

 

[Viceregal]

If someone was regularly kicking 8-10 goals per week would they let him pick 2 or 3 songs to alternate between?

 

[Section 5]

This is a big change and clubs will use it when needed.
A nightmare for those playing fantasy footy too.

"The AFL have made it very clear during the week that your 26 is your 26 and you can make as many changes to that 26 as you like, so I'll be very surprised this week across the board if sides don't make late changes. We'll just have to take a squad up there that covers for a whole lot of contingencies," Scott said.

More late changes incoming? AFL clarifies team selection rules

The AFL has clarified its stance on team selection, with clubs told they have plenty of flexibility with naming their 26-player squads

www.afl.com.au

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

Still remember the Lloyd’s a w***er chants from the 2001 grand final at the G.

Some very quiet bombers fans on the day

I was in the cheer squad that day but my best mate sat in the crowd, and he still talks about the obnoxious Essendon supporters he sat next to.

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

Lets be honest, us Lions supporters are far and away the most humble, friendly, loyal, gracious, knowledgeable and best looking fans in the competition.

Well I am but the rest of youse?

 

[Grasshopper17]

Was thinking about this after watching a replay of the Carlton game during the week... Probably since the Melbourne game we have seen very little transition from defence via the corridor.

Our standard MO has very much been to attack via the wings using our marking targets. The biggest change we've seen in this regard since Round 3 is the ability of Joe and Eric to (at worst) halve those contests, allowing our midfielders and small forwards to take advantage.

I'd like to think we can be a bit more adventurous at times with our ball use; longer term it will be to our advantage to have multiple methods we can use to attack from our defence. We rarely switch the ball from one flank to the other either, altho that does now seem a very outdated mode of ball movement across the competition.

Anyway (and this is more of a coincidence really), with the way Essendon generally defend, folding back hard into their back 50, I think we will get more opportunity tomorrow night to use the corridor than perhaps we have against other teams. I'd like to think we'll be ready, willing and able to take those chances.

 

[BuntonRules]

Well I am but the rest of youse?

oh Lord, it's hard to be humble...................

 

[p4p1]

I still remember the booing and abused that the OG Libba copped at the Gabba after tried to claw out Craig McRae's eyes.

Think he'd done the same the year before to another Lions players and don't seem to recall anyone claiming the booing was because of a deep-seated racism towards Italians

He also got booed constantly when he played at Subiaco/WACA

 

[Gadzorks]

oh Lord, it's hard to be humble...................

Thanks for the smile.

Haven't heard that since my dad died. It was his theme song.

And totally inappropriate for him.

 

[irel]

Lets be honest, us Lions supporters are far and away the most humble, friendly, loyal, gracious, knowledgeable and best looking fans in the competition.

Well, one out of six is not bad.

 

[Gadzorks]

Well, one out of six is not bad.

Yep. We are lions fans, we got that one

 

[Tom14]

Was thinking about this after watching a replay of the Carlton game during the week... Probably since the Melbourne game we have seen very little transition from defence via the corridor.

Our standard MO has very much been to attack via the wings using our marking targets. The biggest change we've seen in this regard since Round 3 is the ability of Joe and Eric to (at worst) halve those contests, allowing our midfielders and small forwards to take advantage.

I'd like to think we can be a bit more adventurous at times with our ball use; longer term it will be to our advantage to have multiple methods we can use to attack from our defence. We rarely switch the ball from one flank to the other either, altho that does now seem a very outdated mode of ball movement across the competition.

Anyway (and this is more of a coincidence really), with the way Essendon generally defend, folding back hard into their back 50, I think we will get more opportunity tomorrow night to use the corridor than perhaps we have against other teams. I'd like to think we'll be ready, willing and able to take those chances.

Saw a stat that collingwood aside all the top teams are attacking via the boundary and avoiding the corridor. I'm happy enough to keep up the current approach - turnovers in the corridor expose your defence too much.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Saw a stat that collingwood aside all the top teams are attacking via the boundary and avoiding the corridor. I'm happy enough to keep up the current approach - turnovers in the corridor expose your defence too much.

Yes I saw that too. And I'd be interested to see how our defence would cope with a turnover in the middle of the ground.

The realist in me acknowledges you're probably right, but the idealist in me wants us to give it a go anyway.

The other thing is that if opposition defences wise up to this growing trend across the league, they may start committing additional numbers to the wings to combat our ball movement. This may create avenues through the corridor.

I'm sensing a real multi-week game of cat and mouse in coaching boxes across the league at the moment. And if it swings too far in one direction we need to be able to capitalise.

So even if you are correct, I still think we need to be on our toes and alert to opportunities that may arise to use the corridor. I've heard it described as "playing on with your eyes". Zorko playing off half back could be the perfect catalyst for this by the way.

 

[ZoBlitz]

Gameday thread is up.