Unofficial Preview Semi Final Saturday 7:35pm vs Gold Coast @ GABBA

[luthor]

You won’t be in the minority hoping the Pies get beaten.

If the Suns happen to knock us over, I will barrack hard for them against the detestable Pies

 

[Pride of lions]

They have 2 decent mids. If were to get on top it’ll be our midfield depth

I’ll back W Ashcroft and Clug to play much better next week and Bailey likes playing the Suns

Clug could barely run last night. I watched him on the ground just after the half time siren and he was totally gassed. He didn’t seem able to move laterally as well as usual either. He definitely seems to be battling a pretty significant knee problem which is restricting his speed and mobility. I don’t think we will be able to rely on him to perform any miracles for us next week. Hope I am wrong.

 

[LionCub29]

Just got back from the Dockers v Suns game - if we play the same insipid football we did on Friday night, we’ll lose by plenty against the Suns.

 

[Sproj]

Just look at this:
Neale - gone
Hipwood - gone
Coleman - gone
Answerth - gone
Payne - gone
Doedee - gone
McCarthy - gone
Cameron - busted
Ah Chee - busted
Berry - busted
McCluggage - busted
McInerney - busted
Lohmann - busted
L.Ashcroft - overfatigued
Day - broken, busted, ancient and fragile
Gallop - not ready
McLachlan - not ready
Smith - not ready

We have done amazingly well to get this far. It’ll take some effort beat the Suns but they will be tired and if we can get on top somehow with whatever is left of us, the adrenaline they will be riding might very quickly wear off. It’s a massive if but this might end up a blow out to them or a war of attrition between two side struggling to stand.

 

[Elixuh]

First Crack just showed some terrible vision for Bailey. Not great.

 

[MSB ROYS]

One downside to the Suns winning is we're not facing a team not used to the Queensland spring heat

It's usually a few degrees cooler on the coast...

 

[Bucking Beads]

I'm probably a little bit pessimistic on our chances next Saturday tbh. The Suns are pretty stacked and playing spirited footy. Our boys are just so banged up at this stage. Will the Neale and Hipwood news deflate them? Such a touch ask for our team. I just hope they show up and have a crack because there's still plenty of talent on the park for us.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Not expecting to win, but won't be shocked if they do.
Still super impressed how they beat Freo and hawks in virtual finals to make the 8 in the last 2 rounds.
Reckon a close loss to the Suns who are now a serious team is better than a bad loss to Collingwood.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Wow

Sorry, but there is way too much pessimism in here. No doubt we have our problems with injury and form, and sure we could lose, but I’m feeling confident. This team can turn on a dime, we’ve seen that all year. In a battle between the team that finished 3rd and a team that scraped into the final eight, a lifetime of following the footy tells me the team that finished third will win more often than not.

Fagan, the football dept and players will review the Geelong game, look at our previous two encounters against the Suns this year, do the usual rehab and recovery, and lastly Fagan will need to make the right selection calls later in the week.

We stick to our processes and back ourselves in. I actually think we win this comfortably.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

It's usually a few degrees cooler on the coast...

please explain

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

please explain

Sorry quoted the wrong post I’ll try again

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

First Crack just showed some terrible vision for Bailey. Not great.

Please explain what was said

 

[M Malice]

Clug could barely run last night. I watched him on the ground just after the half time siren and he was totally gassed. He didn’t seem able to move laterally as well as usual either. He definitely seems to be battling a pretty significant knee problem which is restricting his speed and mobility. I don’t think we will be able to rely on him to perform any miracles for us next week. Hope I am wrong.

It looks like we have too many banged up players in the side at the same time to me, physically and/or mentally.

I may be in the minority but if it's affecting their performance substantially I would rather a not as talented player in who is capable of a manic defensive effort than a sore and tired nominal best 22 player who is less than say 80% fitness and vitality.

?? Charlie Cameron, Jarrod Berry, Hugh McGluggage, Levi Ashcroft, Callum Ah Chee, Kai Lohmann. ??

Give 2-3 of the likes of a crack >

Bruce Reville, Sam Marshall, Conor McKenna, James Tunstill, Luke Beecken, Reece Torrent, Dev Robertson.
________________________________

I do know this will not happen, Fages said as much in his post match presser.

 

[DevRoboGun]

We can still make the GF but IMO it’s going to take some seriously Ballsy coaching, starting with returning to our 2023 structure of two talls.

Hipwood out - okay, we can’t win a flag with two of gallop, day and Oscar in the team.

Fagan must be bold and return to 2023 Brisbane, now. Oscar In, his only job to bring the ball to ground. Bring in McKenna and play the chaos small forward line.

Neale out doesn’t cruel us anymore, we saw this by how much our mids dominated freo and the hawks without him.

Our defense is looking solid and settled so all we need to do is tinker our structure up the field to be small, fast and manic. These out of form small forwards were able to find a way last September, so let’s back them to do it again starting this weekend.

McKenna, Ah Chee, Charlie, Bailey / Rayner, Lohmann buzzing around the forward line with a strong midfield Performance will get the job done.

 

[Macca180]

Think we bounce back in a big way here.

We have to and I reckon we do.

 

[Macca180]

Just look at this:
Neale - gone
Hipwood - gone
Coleman - gone
Answerth - gone
Payne - gone
Doedee - gone
McCarthy - gone
Cameron - busted
Ah Chee - busted
Berry - busted
McCluggage - busted
McInerney - busted
Lohmann - busted
L.Ashcroft - overfatigued
Day - broken, busted, ancient and fragile
Gallop - not ready
McLachlan - not ready
Smith - not ready

We have done amazingly well to get this far. It’ll take some effort beat the Suns but they will be tired and if we can get on top somehow with whatever is left of us, the adrenaline they will be riding might very quickly wear off. It’s a massive if but this might end up a blow out to them or a war of attrition between two side struggling to stand.

Jesus.

When I see that.

 

[Sproj]

it’s hard to be positive after getting belted by Geelong but despite the scoreline, our backs actually did a pretty good job, they just got absolutely no tell whatsoever from the other two parts of the ground. If our mids and forwards actually put in this time, we can definitely win and it’s why with our outs, we have to go smaller, I completely agree.

Our forward line is not functioning and while neither Charlie or Cal should be there based on the season’s body of work, they are not as big a problem as Gallop and especially Day. So for me it has to be Morris and big O / Fort up forward and we need McKenna, Marshall and Reville’s run. I’d even consider Ah Chee or Cameron as sub.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Clug could barely run last night. I watched him on the ground just after the half time siren and he was totally gassed. He didn’t seem able to move laterally as well as usual either. He definitely seems to be battling a pretty significant knee problem which is restricting his speed and mobility. I don’t think we will be able to rely on him to perform any miracles for us next week. Hope I am wrong.

Seemed fine the previous 2 weeks. He always has that exhausted expression. Think it was just a bit bad like 80% of the team

 

[Nathan Barley]

Please explain what was said

Typical David King “gotcha” video package of our guys not running defensively

Bailey was on Holmes at the stoppage when Holmes got forward and kicked that goal. Bailey hadn’t moved from the wing by the time Holmes kicked it.

It was pathetic and pretty typical for him in terms of defensive effort. Probably a big reason why he doesn’t get the midfield time he apparently wants

 

[3KZ is Football]

We can still make the GF but IMO it’s going to take some seriously Ballsy coaching, starting with returning to our 2023 structure of two talls.

Hipwood out - okay, we can’t win a flag with two of gallop, day and Oscar in the team.

Fagan must be bold and return to 2023 Brisbane, now. Oscar In, his only job to bring the ball to ground. Bring in McKenna and play the chaos small forward line.

Neale out doesn’t cruel us anymore, we saw this by how much our mids dominated freo and the hawks without him.

Our defense is looking solid and settled so all we need to do is tinker our structure up the field to be small, fast and manic. These out of form small forwards were able to find a way last September, so let’s back them to do it again starting this weekend.

McKenna, Ah Chee, Charlie, Bailey / Rayner, Lohmann buzzing around the forward line with a strong midfield Performance will get the job done.

Fagan needs to coach like he is standing on thin ice. He can do it with a few deft selection touches. You nailed it DevRoboGun.

 

[Darren Downunder]

I think we lost Friday night because our midfield got soundly beaten.
I thought our forwards and back did better than expected given the midfield defeat.
So I would not support any changes to the forward line.

 

[lions2010]

I think we lost Friday night because our midfield got soundly beaten.
I thought our forwards and back did better than expected given the midfield defeat.
So I would not support any changes to the forward line.

I agree with this 100%. Similar happened against the Swans a few weeks ago, then we bounced back. I would be very surprised if we played that pooly again this week in an elimination final. I still believe our best is still the best.

 

[M Malice]

I agree with this 100%. Similar happened against the Swans a few weeks ago, then we bounced back. I would be very surprised if we played that pooly again this week in an elimination final. I still believe our best is still the best.

We have been up and down with our emotion and want for the contest over the season and agree we have bounced back.

However that was the H&A season, I'm concerned that this down game was in a Final where a desire for the contest should have been an absolute given, if a significant portion of our players can't get up for a Qualifying Final that is a huge worry going into needing to win 3 cut throat finals on the trot.

 

[jumbojet]

Regardless of who is selected the lions need to do better in the rucks . Whoever gets hands on the ball first in these stoppages wins.

 

[Jivlain]

Haven't gone back and watched a replay yet, but I don't remember much of our characteristic switching and angle kicking. Which has always equalled a loss for us this year