An AFL draftee put in a standout performance at the Gabba on Saturday night – unfortunately for long-suffering Melbourne fans it wasn’t No.1 pick Jack Watts.
Instead of the much maligned Watts, fellow 2008 draftee Daniel Rich dominated to inspire the Brisbane Lions to a 16.15 (111) to 8.8 (56) win over the Demons to keep their top four plans on track.
All the pre-match talk had centred on Watts.
The scrutiny was remarkable considering the 18-year-old arrived in Brisbane with just two games under his belt.
But it is par for the course for a top draft pick in AFL’s fishbowl existence in Melbourne – as Watts is quickly learning.
While he plugged away – along with the rest of his hapless teammates – the star of the night took just moments to emerge.
Rich kicked the first goal with his booming left boot 35 seconds in before showing poise beyond his 18 years and 13 games to dominate the Demons.
The Lions would tell anyone who would listen how surprised they were at snapping up Rich at No.7 in the 2008 Draft.
Now everyone knows what all the fuss was about.
Certainly the Demons can after yet another impressive performance by the Subiaco junior.
While Watts compounded fears that he wasn’t ready for the AFL – kicking just one behind from plenty of chances – Rich showed why he is an integral part of the Lions’ resurgence.
Rich finished with two goals to his name but also proved invaluable to skipper Jonathan Brown (five goals) and Daniel Bradshaw (four) as the Lions romped to their third win in four games.
The victory helped the Lions exorcise some demons – in more ways than one.
At this time last season the Lions were also sitting on a 7-5 win-loss record.
However, their shock one-point loss to Melbourne in the corresponding match last season sparked a horror run that ensured the Lions missed the finals for the fourth straight year.
Melbourne actually led by four points when Russell Robertson kicked the Demons’ second goal in the 17th minute of the first quarter.
And the Lions only held a 10-point lead at the first break before piling on six unanswered majors to blow the deficit out to 9.7 (61) to 2.2 (14) at the main break.
Then it got ugly – the Lions led 13.13 (91) to 2.5 (17) at the final interval before the Demons broke their goal scoring drought in the fourth.
Indeed the Demons remarkably outscored a cruising Lions in the final term, kicking six goals to three in what would be the only complaint for Brisbane coach Michael Voss.
Rich finished with 20 disposals while usual suspects Simon Black (33 touches) and Luke Power (29) again impressed.
But Voss was more concerned about team, rather than individual, efforts.
Indeed it was hard to tell who was the winning coach at the post-match press conference after a glum Voss emerged.
“Individuals had contributed but I can’t recall anything that we got out of it as a team,” Voss said.
“And one of the hallmarks of our team is that we have got the result as a group, but we didn’t connect too well (tonight).
“It’s not being disrespectful to our opposition in any way but I thought it was one of our poorer performances of the year.
“We have got to hold high standards for ourselves as a team and we didn’t reach those standards whatsoever.”
Demons coach Dean Bailey described it as a “pretty ordinary effort” by his team.
Even the fourth quarter fightback couldn’t cheer him up.
“You could look at that and find positives but our second and third quarters were pretty poor – we didn’t fight that hard,” he said.
“From all stats, from all perspectives, we were pretty disappointing.”
In the end Watts finished with 10 touches.
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