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Life as Brisbane Lions coach got off to a perfect start for Michael Voss at the Gold Coast on Saturday night.
But it was hardly seamless.
In the end, the Lions knocked out defending champions St Kilda 1.8.8 (65) to 0.8.8 (56) in an NAB Cup opener played in greasy conditions.
However, Voss was made to sweat it out as the Saints came back from 40 points down at halftime to get within a super goal of a young Brisbane outfit in the dying minutes.
Like the rest of the 6,103-strong Gold Coast crowd, Voss was on the edge of his seat as he watched what looked like a runaway win suddenly become a tense arm wrestle.
After the Lions’ second quarter blitz, the Saints kicked seven of the last eight goals including a Stephen Milne double to cut the deficit to just nine.
In a scenario that seemed impossible at halftime, Raphael Clarke’s goal at the death ensured the Saints needed a super goal to at least tie.
But a Lions outfit boasting four draftees – including high profile top pick Daniel Rich – held on in the wet, much to Voss’ relief.
The tentative Lions of the second half were in stark contrast to the rampant hosts of the second quarter.
Brisbane simply ran amok after goals to Lions comeback kid Rhan Hooper – fined an incredible $40,000 in the pre-season for multiple breaches of his playing contract – and Mitch Clark had set up a 0.2.3 (15) to 0.1.3 (9) advantage at the opening break.
Josh Drummond’s sensational super goal in the 10th minute of the second opened the floodgates as the Lions suddenly looked like they were doing it easy.
As Hooper threatened throughout, Scott Harding banged in two goals and Tasmanian draftee Aaron Cornelius and Tim Notting also helped themselves as the Lions roared to an incredible 1.6.6 (51) to 0.1.5 (11) halftime lead.
By the time Justin Sherman kicked the opening goal of the third term to blow out the deficit to 1.7.6 (57) to 0.1.5 (11), Brisbane had piled on 28 unanswered points.
But that only sparked a Saints march.
Hardman Brendon Goddard – a standout for the visitors – led a charge of four straight goals in the third, kicking two of his own.
Adding to Brisbane’s pain in the Saints’ 10 minute, 24 point burst in the third, Ash McGrath was placed on report for contact on Goddard in the goal square.
Harding’s third goal proved a nice settler before the final break as the Lions enjoyed a 1.8.6 (63) to 0.5.7 (37) buffer.
But the Saints weren’t taking no for an answer.
Voss tried to play down the anxiety factor in the dying moments.
“I guess a little bit. I think by that stage I had got what I wanted out of the game. The only thing that was left was whether we won the game or not,” he said.
“What we wanted out of it was getting a competitive effort from the games. They got their bumps and bruises, they put their head over the ball – they haven’t had that in the last six months.
“That was our first practice match so I wasn’t as surprised that we started running out of legs.”
Meanwhile, Saints coach Ross Lyon – who let assistant Stephen Silvagni hold the reins for the majority of Saturday night – was happy with how his team turned it around in the second half.
“We didn’t compete that well and didn’t defend that well so I just said at halftime, ‘look we don’t want them getting back on us’ so we just tweaked a few things,” he said.
“We were more instinctive going forward.
“They deserved to win because they were a bit better for a bit longer but we took a few positives out of it with a few players coming back from injury.”
Lions draftee Rich was impressive early with some classy touches, showing why the 18-year-old was the early favourite to take out the Rising Star award for 2009.
For St Kilda, injury-plagued key defender Matt Maguire ran out for his first game of football against another club for 10 months.
However, Justin Koschitzke (ankle) missed out on Saturday night after a training mishap on the Gold Coast.
The Saints also left out captain Nick Riewoldt (knee), Lenny Hayes (calf) and Steven Baker (knee).
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