AFL Round 1 Brisbane Lions V West Coast Official Thread

[Jorgo]

I saw him on a HBF at one point.

He spent a fair chunk of the game playing out of the back line, didn't seem to be a part of the main midfield rotations, or at least, not as much as he was late last year.

Yup glad to see others noticed what I noticed. He did seem to be back more and not in the guts. Was interesting to see.

Wonder if they're just trying to teach him more about the game @ AFL level by educating him back there a bit, or if they see this as a better role for him.

 

[whatboutbob]

Wonder if they're just trying to teach him more about the game @ AFL level by educating him back there a bit, or if they see this as a better role for him.

I assumed they're trying to add strings to Rich's bow so that he can be moved back to help shake a tag.

 

[Jorgo]

I assumed they're trying to add strings to Rich's bow so that he can be moved back to help shake a tag.

That's as good a theory as any.

 

[POBT]

Some stats from round 1.

Brown kicked the most goals (5) and took the equal most marks (14) in round 1.

Brennan's 31 disposals wasn't good enough to get him into the top 10 most disposals for round 1. His 14 contested possessions was 4th best.

Staker took 3 contested marks, equal second in the comp.

Shermo had the most inside 50's in the comp (10).

Drummo had the 4rd most rebound 50s in the comp.

Leuenberger was eq 2nd for goal assists.

Fevola's 7 behinds was the most in the competition in round 1! He also took the most marks inside 50.

What does all that mean? Very little!

 

[Jorgo]

What does all that mean? Very little!

To a stats junkie like myself I disagree!

 

[SunKing]

I assumed they're trying to add strings to Rich's bow so that he can be moved back to help shake a tag.

I thought his opponent (Embley) dragged him into the backline to keep him out of the midfield?

 

[Gibbo_88]

I thought the team looked a bit rusty which was expected because of the interrupted pre-season. Everyone's already mentioned something about who the good players were so I won't say much.

Banfield - Some players just don't make the transition from reserves to AFL that easy. Banfield did the same as Proud. He rushes the disposal or feels the pressure from the pace of AFL and makes simple mistakes. Hopefully it was just nerves for him and he is still in the team this week because he is ridiculously fast and its been too long since we've had that kind of pace in the forward line.

3 days and they have to back up. I think we will see an extended bench named on Wednesday and the team only finalised a few hours before the game.

What do people think of the game plan?

I didn't notice so much zoning in the game against the bulldogs in the pre-season. It didn't seem to work too well against WC but in the 4th quarter even though it looked like the Lions were tiring they managed to steamroll QC. Did the Lions keep the zone the whole game or did they change, hard to see on TV.

The defense, instead of just Mcgrath and Drummond running it out of the back 50 we had TJ, Raines, Mcgrath and Rich getting involved and Merrett and Maguire staying with their men and not involved in the play.

The midfield had a bigger 'inside' group. Last year it was really just Black, Power and Rich but this year Rischitelli and Brennan come back into the group and Power goes out.

Forward line has changed a lot. Brown being back to play as a true CHF means in the 3rd and 4th quarters he is going to be running his opponent into the ground which could be part of the explanation as to why sometimes we finish games off better than we start. Fevola...enough said. Banfield, Power and Buchanon are a huge improvement on our musical chair small forwards we had last year.

 

[Trjn]

I thought his opponent (Embley) dragged him into the backline to keep him out of the midfield?

That's how I saw it.

 

[blynd_freddie]

Some stats from round 1.

Brown kicked the most goals (5) and took the equal most marks (14) in round 1.

Brennan's 31 disposals wasn't good enough to get him into the top 10 most disposals for round 1. His 14 contested possessions was 4th best.

Staker took 3 contested marks, equal second in the comp.

Shermo had the most inside 50's in the comp (10).

Drummo had the 4rd most rebound 50s in the comp.

Leuenberger was eq 2nd for goal assists.

Fevola's 7 behinds was the most in the competition in round 1! He also took the most marks inside 50.

What does all that mean? Very little!

To a stats junkie like myself I disagree!

Also disagree...

Not bad for our final practice/challenge match. I think they should be pretty close to primed for round one vs carltank.

 

[acuguy]

I thought his opponent (Embley) dragged him into the backline to keep him out of the midfield?

I think Vossy is fine with having Rich play out of the half back line, I wonder who was assigned who, Embley is very much a receive and break player, i noticed Rich seemed reluctant to immerse himself in the contest and looked to stay on the fringes. Maybe the plan for him due to his opponent.

 

[sblack]

Voss did mention Rich in the backline during the post match interview.

Cannot recall the reasoning though.

 

[Grimreepah]

The Forward Line - considering Fevola, Staker, Buchanan, Banfield and Power were all new additions to our forward line I thought they worked pretty well.

The ruck - was an intriguing contest. Naitanui was killing us early. Leuenberger managed to stem the bleeding somewhat and then gradually wore them down. He seems to thrive when responsibility is thrust upon him.

Chanel 10 - still have no idea how two West Coast goals were kicked as Channel 10 were busy showing replays. I winced when I heard Matthew Campbell was commentating, but he managed to avoid completely ruining the experience for me.

The 4th quarter - West Coast looked like they had the legs but then they just stopped. Didn't see any of them cramping up but we were the ones who had the run. Weird.

 

[Quigley]

Personally I thought WC were just hanging on most of the day. They were scrappy and the slippery conditions probably helped them keep things tight. We always looked like the more dangerous side.

In the last we slipped it up a couple of gears and went away from them. At the moment I think we look like a very dangerous team although maybe not a premiership contender. We have the weapons to scare anyone and that is encouraging.

I have been very much against Staker to date but I thought he looked very good on Saturday. If teams focus too heavily on Brown and Fevola he will get a lot of goals. He got open a fair bit and importantly our guys looked to use him. I was impressed the way he was used. He went down back a little toward the end and was fair down there as well.

Raines on the other hand just perpetuated the rap against him. He burned the ball virtually every time he got the ball. He must improve in this area if he is going to keep his spot. Showed some good pace and strength though which was positive.

I was really impressed with Merrett as well. He looked strong and a yard quicker than the last few years. He dominated his position whoever they threw against him. I laughed when NN tried his usual outmuscling moves and Merrett just shoved him out of the road. Merrett also covered NN for pace which not many can do. Hugely impressed with him from a defensively perspective and this could be the year we see him take the next step.

 

[whatboutbob]

Personally I thought WC were just hanging on most of the day. They were scrappy and the slippery conditions probably helped them keep things tight. We always looked like the more dangerous side.

Agreed. Browny in particular looks like he is on a mission to make Vossy's strategy work. He is just incredible.

Raines on the other hand just perpetuated the rap against him. He burned the ball virtually every time he got the ball. He must improve in this area if he is going to keep his spot.

Respectfully, I think you're exaggerating somewhat. I just got done watching the game again and he hit the target more often than not, and certainly improved over the course of the game. However he rarely went for a challenging option and probably still had more than his fair share of clangers.

 

[Hollow Knight]

According to One Week at a Time, three of the six nominees for mark or goal of the week are Brisbane Lions players.

Power's goal from the boundary, Fev's soccer goal and Browny's contested mark are all nominated.

Can't seem to find the voting link on the AFL website at the moment though?

 

[Jubair]

I voted for Fev's and Brown's mark - I only got to see Cotchin's mark and then it stopped working.

 

[whizkizz]

Respectfully, I think you're exaggerating somewhat. I just got done watching the game again and he hit the target more often than not, and certainly improved over the course of the game. However he rarely went for a challenging option and probably still had more than his fair share of clangers.

Agreed. He had a few turnovers in the first half, but I kept a close eye on him after half time and I don't think he did it again.

Was it him that set up Browny for the mark of the week contender?..


Did anyone else notice Rich's reluctance to kick the ball? It looked unusual, Rich handballing that is.

 

[Lions1024]

I voted for Fev's and Brown's mark - I only got to see Cotchin's mark and then it stopped working.

Good old Bigpond.. Nothing seems to ever work.. Have they ever got anything working perfectly right?

 

[Jubair]

Raines had a solid game IMO, he did make some errors but they werent critical (ala Roe-like). During the last quarter, some of his long kicks were brilliant and found the mark each time. Some people literally around me said "Wow" - and started talking about his father Geoff

 

[chopperduck]

Agree, Raines had a couple of shockers, but that summed up the teams first 3 qtrs. No one could hit a target with a handball and it really slowed us down as we either picked the wrong option, or the pass was such a bad one that it took away our speed and momentum. This was fixed in the 4th and we were a HELL lot cleaner and as a result had much faster ball movement and more clearances.

The amount of players stretching out cramps when shots at goal were being taken was so funny. The funniest thing was when the final siren went not one player on the ground moved, about 3/4 qtrs of the players from both sides put the hands straight to the knees.

 

[Gibbo_88]

Finally had a chance to watch the replay last night, had quite a few drinks during the game on Saturday so didn't pay attention to it all.

Find it strange that some people have whinged about Raines, he turned it over in the midfield just the once with a short kick (A few other players did this). He's had about 2 years out of the game, has his first game back, manages to give Brown two marks and the same with Banfield, has good evasive skills and is prepared to throw his body around. Out of all our recruits if there is one that is seen as the worst or a waste of space on our list it is definitely not him after that game.

Banfield was amazing! Would be the fastest player in the team in acceleration and he puts in the second and third efforts. I think he contributed to at least 3 goals, screwed up one and then got one himself. The 2008 draft for the Lions just keeps getting better. Comparing Yarran's and Banfields performance, both were good but find it strange that Banfield was overlooked for rising star nomination but rising star nominations don't count for much unless your in the bottom 8.

Redden had 18 possessions but I hardly noticed him during the game but at one stage he was in 2 contests within a few seconds and managed to fire off a handball while being tackled.

Clark was a wreck, good on him for playing while sick but after a ball up he would be walking a lot of the time and would play in bursts so this week we will actually have 22 players that can play

A few comments were made about Rich not kicking and always handballing and I noticed he hardly had any room to line up a kick the whole night. He was always receiving hand balls in traffic and was close to being tackled a number of times. Last year he burned WC with some of his long kicks so this year they kept a player on him when we were running out of defence.

 

[luthor]

*BUMP*

Brown kicking 5, Fev "erratic" with 3.7

I long for the good old days