Chris Judd of Carlton and Brendan Fevola of Brisbane acknowledge each other after the AFL NAB Challenge match between the Carlton Blues and the Brisbane Lions at Visy Park, Melbourne.
Are the Brisbane Lions in the depths of a horrific form slump, or should the Lions faithful be worried about some unknown feud within the Brisbane camp?
Following last week’s 10-point loss to Melbourne, their 13th loss in 14 weeks, the question must be raised: what is the reason for this seemingly endless run of bad form?
Of course, it could be said that valiant skipper Jonathan Brown – the Lion’s knight in shining armour – is carrying a groin injury that would leave a lesser man bedridden, which gives the Lion’s little firepower up forward.
But what about the rest of the Brisbane team?
2010 recruit, Brent Staker, has been impressive for the Lion’s following his move from West Coast last season. He amassed an hard-fought 127 SuperCoach points last week and was instrumental in their last quarter comeback.
Young gun, Tom Rockliff, is another shining light for Brisbane this year, as he continues to stamp himself as one of the Lion’s best players in only his second year of AFL. And, of course, we can’t go past the midfield duo of Luke Power and Simon Black, who continue to hold up the dilapidated Brisbane, but only just.
But let’s look to the future.
Simon Black and Luke Power are on the verge of retirement, with surely only a year left in their veteran legs; Jonathan Brown, who is approaching twenty-nine, recovers from an injury only to gain another almost instantaneously; and there is a genuine lack of young talent at the Lions, with last year’s NAB Rising Star, Daniel Rich, struggling to regain the blistering form that he had last year.
At the start of the year, with the iconic Michael Voss at the helm – who had recruited seemingly perfectly – there was plenty to be excited about, especially following the Lion’s winning of their first four games.
The Brown and ‘Fev’ show, they called it, goals aplenty, and even an early crow as premiership contenders. But what has happened? Is there a problem with the coach/player, or player/player relationship?
Or does the board have some problem with coach, players or some other difficulty – be it financial or other?
It would be expected that there would be full support behind Michael Voss, because of his status within the footy club. But what about the players?
We all have heard of the uncanny ability Brendan Fevola has at getting under the skin of the most strong-willed person. Is this the reason for the poor form of the Lions? Has there been a division in the ranks?
It is unlikely the club would divulge such information. However, it must be said that “Fev” has looked in particularly bad form and somewhat overweight in the past few weeks, and you have to wonder if this is perhaps a cause of a debacle within the Lions’ camp.
One thing for certain is that the Lions need to pick themselves off the bottom of the ladder and put themselves out of contention for the dreaded wooden spoon.
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