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Round 17 comes to an end in Queensland, as the Brisbane Lions host the Greater Western Sydney Giants at the Gabba. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 4:40pm (AEST).
The Giants’ march to a first ever finals appearance took a stumble last week as they were convincingly beaten by Collingwood.
That puts a little bit more pressure into what on paper should be a very comfortable trip north.
For everything they’ve achieved this year, and all the talent on their list, it’s still a new club made up largely of young players. They’re going to be prone to the odd slip-up.
The key is not to let a slip become a slump. They have to back up from that disappointment by thumping the Lions this evening. And frankly, one would expect them to do exactly that.
Brisbane’s season has gone from disappointing to disastrous, as poor results are now followed by media scrutiny and rumours of significant discontent, both within the playing group and at AFL HQ.
They’ve copped so many beatings over the last few years I suppose one more doesn’t make much difference. But surely time is running out for Leppitsch and many of the players to salvage their careers. A competitive showing at the very least might offer some hope.
To be fair, they were right in the game last week away to the Suns, so that’s something to build on.
There might be almost as much scrutiny on the stands as on the field. The merged club recorded its second lowest ever Gabba attendance at its last home game and with rain forecast, and there not likely to be much away support from the Giants, chances are that ‘record’ will be broken.
At selection, the Lions regain Tom Cutler from injury, while Daniel Merrett misses with illness. Lachie Whitfield is also unwell for the Giants, who have dropped Rhys Palmer as the other out. Sam Reid and debutant Harrison Himmelberg are the inclusions.
Without Merrett the Lions are lacking any sort of experienced leader down back, and the hungry Giants may well capitalise on that: Brisbane have the worst defensive record of any team in the league this season. Expect Jeremy Cameron, Jon Patton and Rory Lobb to really stretch the Lions’ defenders, while Steve Johnson, Toby Greene and Devon Smith will be keen to do some damage.
Brisbane’s best hope to curtail GWS will be in the midfield, where Dayne Zorko and Mitch Robinson have been in good form. They’ll need to be at their very best against Dylan Shiel, Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio, Josh Kelly and Tom Scully though.
One interesting factor will be the role of Heath Shaw, who is having a superb year, but wasn’t quite as influential in his last couple of games. Leppitsch may try to get someone like Ryan Lester to play a defensive forward role on him to keep him out of the contest.
Sadly, this really doesn’t promise much as a spectacle, particularly with rain forecast. But there’s still some interest in seeing how the Giants back up from last week, and whether there’s still some fight in Leppitsch’s Lions.
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