Former Fremantle coach Mark Harvey has been influential in the Brisbane Lions’ recent improvement. Harvey was given the axe following the 2011 AFL season to make way for former Saint Ross Lyon.
Fremantle and Harvey battled through a phenomenal injury toll which ravaged the club to the extent they barely managed to keep 22 players together. Because of this, many believed Harvey’s place was not under threat despite ending the year with seven consecutive losses and an 11th placed finish.
Following his questionable dismissal from the Dockers, Harvey was appointed the Lions forward coach. So far Brisbane is reaping the rewards.
Harvey has been instrumental in the Brisbane side’s recent run of form, which has seen them victorious in three of their past five games.
The forward structures have been excellent, evident in Brisbane’s 58-point victory over the Bulldogs last Saturday.
Captain Jonathan Brown made acres of space for defender turned forward Daniel Merrett to lead into. Brown was also responsible for taking star full-back Brian Lake out of the play, leading him deep up field.
According to the statistics, the Bulldogs game was not an anomaly.
In the past month Brisbane have bettered the form teams in the competition in terms of converting inside 50’s to goals. Brisbane averaged a goal for every 3.23 forward 50 entries, ahead of Collingwood (3.48), Sydney (3.6), Hawthorn (3.74) and West Coast (4.78).
Structurally, Brisbane has found plenty of space inside 50 for their forwards to work with, allowing for their sublime efficiency.
Harvey can take full credit for the forward line’s productivity, showing his cunning tactical ability.
If the Lions’ forward line continues to functioning efficiently, another club in need will undoubtedly notice and come knocking for his services. A coach of Harvey’s class can only stay an assistant coach for so long.
GCS
Guest
I don't know that Almad. How do you know that? Can you give some reasons why you know that he can't coach?
Keagan Ryan
Roar Guru
Totally agree - credit to Voss for persisting. Although I still hope Merrett's move isn't permanent (one of the best defenders in the comp). And to be fair more than half of Merrett's goals have come in two games (GWS + Dogs) - needs consistency. Point on injuries is also true. Many forget this year we haven't had Matty Leunberger (top there tap ruckman in the comp IMO) he will help at the clearances. Whilst Hudson has been terrific Leunberger really taps it down midfielders' throats. Lions will be better for it, like playing without Browny and Merrett last year, they will adapt. So next year when Berger is fit again, the midfielders won't rely on his service but win their own ball too.
Keagan Ryan
Roar Guru
Hawks did miss some sitters too. Moral of the story is, Lions are definitely improving!
Dingo
Guest
Persisting with Merrett up forward, despite early criticism, has proven to be something of a masterstroke, it makes The Lions less one dimensional when looking to attack. I'm not sure who is responsible for making that call, but so far it has been paying dividends. The main difference for the Lions at the moment compared to previously, is their injury list. When many of your key players are missing it is going to be very difficult to be competitive, Harvey knows that only too well. One other factor is that the young players are now getting to the point where they have significant games under their belt, players like Rich, Rockliff, Redden, Polkinghorne, etc all 50+ gamers now. Looking forward to seeing the improvement continue.
TomC
Roar Guru
I'd argue it was the backline's ability to deny the Hawks' easy shots on goal that kept the Lions in the game, at least for the first three quarters. Quarter scores of 4.6, 4.6 and 4.7 for the Hawks suggest they were resricted to tougher chances. The game blew open in the final quarter, but until then Maguire had restricted Franklin to just two goals, both from dubious free kicks.
Keagan Ryan
Roar Guru
The defense has been together for awhile now. Drummond-Patful-Maguire-Hanley-Adcock have all been together for a few years now, they're definitely a strong core group. If I asked you to name the forward line you might struggle because they haven't consistently played together. The Hawthorn game showed how open the forward line can be. Hawthorn dominated the first half yet the Lions remained in the contest because they converted most forward entries. Their ability to convert entries into goals combined with their accuracy in front of goal has a lot to do with structure. i.e. Harvey Also the Dogs forward line is rubbish, they have no marking target and continually bomb it inside 50 - that's easy for any defense to clean up
TomC
Roar Guru
As a Lions fan I was really happy to see an experienced coach like Harvey join the team at Brisbane. I'm not sure you can ascribe the win on Saturday to his influence, though. I thought the backline was at least as impressive as the forwardline, and the backline has been stronger for most of the season. One thing to note is that the Lions' leading goalkicker was Ash McGrath with five. McGrath has been playing in the backline all season, but looked right at home up forward. Which isn't too surprising, as he's played there with a lot of success in the past. He kicked six in a half in the first Queensland derby last season. So the Lions' most effective forward on Saturday spent every other round excluded from Harvey's forwardline. He only got a full game up there because Banfield was injured and Green can't seem to run out a full game. I don't know whose decision it was to make McGrath a permanent defender or who made the call to play him forward against the Dogs but his success in that role seems to be by accident more than design.
almad
Guest
voss cant coach we all know that