Review Round 9, 2026 - Brisbane Lions vs. Carlton

[davemc_lions]

With Joyce I add in VFL I think he can out mark VFL grade players.
He really should have punched it more then try to out mark.
Had a ok game although you can see why we played Gallop ahead of him.

Next week hope we switched on

 

[jonnobackpocket]

Considering how Froggy keeps getting better he is going to unstoppable at 50 years old. Him, Bruce, Lachie, Logan and Draper for me. Considering how many players are in meh sort of form to keep winning is impressive in the AFL.

 

[PertRoosOsborne]

Hard to be down on Bailey considering how good he has been this year.

However Fletcher’s slow start to the season and Cam’s CBF attitude are more concerning.

It’s rinse and repeat with our consistency of effort against the lower placed teams, very happy to get the 4 points and move on.

 

[braddsey]

How many weeks does Walsh get for the closed fist punch to the face on Levi?

I think it’s hilarious. Pre-season Swanny said they were going to crack down on off the ball incidents (tummy taps etc), and round-1 Gardiner gets a week for a sloppy spoil.
Now you can shove your fist in someone’s face as long as you’ve got a fistful of jumper!

Tom Hawkins was bemused, said he got suspended 3 times for jumper punches.
(It was about the only interesting thing he said, he has all the on screen presence of a cardboard box).

 

[davemc_lions]

It's always been like that on here and usually the same culprits. Some compained that we didn't finish the cats off like we should've in the grand final .

I said before this game and the demons they danger games
It 90% above the shoulders and I do think we have form of just thinking we bank wins.
Any team on their day can beat any other team.

 

[jonnobackpocket]

I think it’s hilarious. Pre-season Swanny said they were going to crack down on off the ball incidents (tummy taps etc), and round-1 Gardiner gets a week for a sloppy spoil.
Now you can shove your fist in someone’s face as ling as you’ve got a fistful of jumper!

Tom Hawkins was bemused, said he got suspended 3 times for jumper punches.
(It was about the only interesting thing he said, he has all the on screen presence of a cardboard box).

Agree- he is a robot isn’t he?

 

[davemc_lions]

I think it’s hilarious. Pre-season Swanny said they were going to crack down on off the ball incidents (tummy taps etc), and round-1 Gardiner gets a week for a sloppy spoil.
Now you can shove your fist in someone’s face as ling as you’ve got a fistful of jumper!

Tom Hawkins was bemused, said he got suspended 3 times for jumper punches.
(It was about the only interesting thing he said, he has all the on screen presence of a cardboard box).

Since then if your a big VFL side you are fine.. Pendle's etc etc

 

[SizeMatters]

Lester and McKay best on ground. Lester should have won the medal….. tbh.

 

[Brizzys Squizzy]

I said before this game and the demons they danger games
It 90% above the shoulders and I do think we have form of just thinking we bank wins.
Any team on their day can beat any other team.

Yes my wife is carlton and she said 10 goals and I said we are proned to cruise in games like this so 3-4 goals, I agree we tend to have these performances 3 or 4 times a year like the draw with Nth last year for example. BUT you can't deny that some on here expect to play 4 great qtrs every week and win by big margins, that simply doesn't happen.

 

[braddsey]

we were pretty disrespectful to carlton. dont recall a game where we've conceded the centre of the ground / corridor from a kick in so often. just basic things that we are usually really good at like that let them back in with a sniff. im not concerned.

I think we (fans) expected a repeat of last week’s game against Essendon.
I tend to agree with Fages in some degree - Carlton can play good football, they just can’t do it for four quarters. While I’m sure they didn’t want their first half to go as it did, i wonder if there was something they changed to not repeat the sane mistake as previous weeks. Don’t go quite as hard in the first half to have something left in the tank for the second half.
Certainly creates a different mindset for the players… rather than grimly holding holding onto a lead and the dreaded “oh f*ck, it’s happening again”, they were free to go for it and chase.

That doesn’t excuse our 3rd quarter/2nd half. I do think there was probably something boys who cruised into self-preservation mode. It shows how quickly a big lead can disappear.

I expect they won’t let the same thing happen next week - there’s been dome questions about the Lions this season. Grand Final rematch, both teams will come out to play.

 

[morsie]

Agree- he is a robot isn’t he?

A pleasant robot but dull

 

[Gadzorks]

Jesus christ I wonder how ppl will react if we actually lose a game.

Wait to we start losing more than we win. A river of vitriol, then silence as people abandon us for whichever qld sport is winning.

Back to the days of 5k at games, mostly opposition supporters. They always reported 10k crowd but we counted bays a couple of times and called Bulldust.

 

[GenericUsername202]

I said before this game and the demons they danger games
It 90% above the shoulders and I do think we have form of just thinking we bank wins.
Any team on their day can beat any other team.

This is so obvious. Even Fagan has addressed it as well. Keeping the motivation to be the best after making 3 consecutive grand finals is insanely difficult. There is a reason why few clubs only achieve this feat. Our best is better than anyone, but the only one who will stop us from a three-peat this season is ourselves. I just hope we can get ourselves into a good ladder position come finals time, because I know the boys will switch on after that. But until then, it's anyones guess.

 

[knaf]

A pleasant robot but dull

Simon the Likeable?

 

[CarterS]

McKay turned into gordon coventry in the last quarter and a half, kicking them from everywhere.,

 

[Mr Ripper]

Simon the Likeable?

 

[Whatamark]

Well Just Win FFS came true. Should we be glad it was the performance it was in the second or a nail biter ?
Think in the end prefer that we played badly and still won. Save the stand out performances for the good teams.

As others have said hard to be 100% perfect all season. Onward and Upwards.

 

[Elixuh]

Interesting stretch of games coming up starting with GeeLOL. Shame we have a few out still with injury but you’d expect we’d have been setting ourselves for this stretch.

We had an awkward start to the season and the last few weeks have been a bit of a nothing so hard to gauge where things sit. Fun few weeks ahead.

Chip is fantastic and gives us everything he has, you can see why fagan loves him. Needs a season or two development to build afl level capacity. So chip for either Gardiner or gallop up forward.

Berry also in.

The other two that go out will be easily best 23 calibre players. List squeeze is real.

 

[NotQuiteJezza]

4 points in the bag, moving on.

Just a reminder about our backline to those bagging our efforts. Harris was battling a corky from last week. From last years team we are missing Gardiner, Starc, Answerth and the there’s Payne. Gallop out also. Kiddy still finding his feet. Linc also. The backline efforts were solid but not cohesive. People need to realize this picture.

And a massive THANK YOU to Froggy.

Draper also coming along but waiting to fully gel with the midfield.

 

[MacMum]

Tom Hawkins was bemused, said he got suspended 3 times for jumper punches.
(It was about the only interesting thing he said, he has all the on screen presence of a cardboard box).

Couldn't agree more....he just sat there with a dumb look on his face trying so hard to look the part and had nothing to say majority of the time..

..certainly not a natural for tv, will be surprised if he's there next year. I feel the same about Eddie Betts

 

[Morbidly_Obese]

I actually liked Kiddy’s game tonight. Still beaten a bit but I loved that he really upped his work rate and showed some desperation. His kicking was elite. Overall he is back on the development path to becoming an elite player I hope after a long period off. I thought he was much better than Zorko.

Curtin was a little lost on occasions but the kicking into him did him no favours. Several times on the lead the ball was kicked over his head or to the man in front giving him no chance. One play from him I loved though was late in the final quarter with Carlton attacking he busted his arse to follow the ball in to be in a position to spoil basically on the goal line. He then turned immediately and hustled outside 50 to get back into position as the ball came out. It was a gut play that showed that winning meant a lot to him.

Like a few I too am waiting to see Levi really get a chance in the midfield. He will be very good.

Marshall’s run would have been handy tonight when the rest of the midfield went to sleep.

Are you doing a phantom draft this year, quigs?

 

[Section 5]

2026 - Attendance 31,147 okay considering the Blues have only won 1 game
2025 - At Marvel 32,892
2024 - OR Gabba 33,367 then EF Gabba 35,660

 

[Grasshopper17]

Will's been fumbly tonight.

Our midfield shouldn’t be capable of playing this poorly

Wash needs to switch on against bottom teams

Don’t think Will was 100% fit tonight. Had all that strapping around the knee and seemed to be favouring it a bit pre game. Hopefully it’s not a lingering thing moving forward.

Lots of soccering off the ground from Will on Friday night. Well, attempted soccering off the ground. I don't think he's the next Messi. When he's on his game he's putting his head over the ball in those situations.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Andrews worst game for a while

Harris wouldn’t have turned in a game like that in a while? Possibly the Giants game when he had to defend 1v1 on Hogan?

I don't think Harris, or many of our backs, were aided by the lack of midfield pressure on the ball coming inside 50.

One thing I noticed when watching bits and pieces from the game yesterday tho... At one stage, I think it might have been the first goal of the last quarter, McKay marked on a short lead despite the close attention of Andrews. Harris attempted to spoil with his right fist despite McKay being on his left, so his left fist was in a far better position to spoil. Does Harris always spoil with only his right? I must say I've never really noticed either way but that stood out to me a bit.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Shouldn't that 2nd Levi kick be from the goal square

No. A free kick, in any situation really, is paid either where the ball is, or where the indiscretion happened, whichever position is more advantageous.

Since a goal was kicked, the ball is considered to be back in the centre of the ground. Thus the free kick was paid on the spot on the ground where Levi was jumper punched in the face.

On the other hand, if Levi's first shot had missed, the ball is considered to be at the top of the goal square (for a kick in), so the man on the mark would have had to stand there. Jarrod Berry received a free kick like that in our final round match against West Coast in 2021.