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.
JR Salazar
Guest
Easy win, but they needed to wake up like a sleeping...fill in the blank.
TomC
Roar Guru
Votes 3 - Stephen Coniglio (GWS) - The best inside midfielder on the ground with seven clearances, he also used the ball well when he had to create opportunities for the forwards. He had nine inside 50s and four goal assists, and could have had more with better finishing. 2 - Callan Ward (GWS) - A busy day for the captain, with 31 possessions, and three classy goals. 1- Jeremy Cameron (GWS) - He had a field day down forward, with 8 marks inside the forward 50. He probably could have taken a few more shots, finishing with three goals and two assists.
TomC
Roar Guru
Match report The Lions started brightly, kicking the first two goals and holding on for most of the first quarter as the Giants began to get on top. But the quality that GWS have around the ground eventually, inevitably showed through. Coniglio, Kelly, Greene and Shiel began to boss the midfield, and Jeremy Cameron was in everything up forward. As both territory and possession were denied the Lions their youngsters cracked under the pressure, letting through a series of goals late in the second half for GWS to open up a commanding nine goal lead at the main break. With the game pretty much over, the level of intensity fell away in the second half, and the rainfall that came close to three quarter time quite literally put a dampener on the scoring to prevent a blowout even more substantial than the 79 point margin the Giants had racked up by the end. It was sheer domination by GWS. They outpossessed the Lions 445 to 329, and were much more direct and effective with that ball use. Brisbane's young and fragile backline was bombarded with long, deep kicks forward, and probably GWS could have made even more of those opportunities than they did: most of the goals actually ended up coming from the midfield. GWS looked most effective when they took the time to methodically move the ball around the ground. There were almost always loose players available to pass to, it was just a matter of picking them out. Leon Cameron and his men would probably be a little disappointed they couldn't take further advantage to rack up a monster win against this sort of opposition, and establish a big percentage break on the other likely finalists. But as it is, they did enough to push past Sydney and into the top four at the end of the round. Still, I'm not sure they'd be all that happy about the quality of their performance. On the other side, I don't know what Justin Leppitsch would make of that game. Not much, but then it's simply one of many poor performances and big losses for the Lions this season. Once again they were competitive early before being badly overrun once the opposition clicked. Once again they conceded a big score, once again the game stopped being a contest before it was half over. This cannot be an environment conducive to the development of their young players. Accentuating the problems for that club was the crowd figure. At just 10,195 it was the lowest ever Gabba crowd for the merged club, more than 2000 less than their previous lowest crowd, also against GWS two years ago. This could be rock bottom for footy in Brisbane. Or things could simply could worse. Very serious decisions need to be made by the club and by the AFL.
Avatar
Roar Guru
Definitely a match I would not want to watch a replay of, despite the Giants winning impressively. Port Adelaide at the Oval next week should be much more of a spectacle, given the Power's win over North Melbourne last night has reignited the battle for eighth place.
TomC
Roar Guru
Oh god, I can't believe I have to write a review of that.
TomC
Roar Guru
That's full time. Good riddance. Brisbane Lions 10.7.67 GWS Giants 22.14.146
TomC
Roar Guru
Greene takes a mark in the forwardline just before the siren, so he'll shoot at goal from about 50m. Straight into the man on the mark. No score.
TomC
Roar Guru
2 minutes left in the match, as the Lions go forward.
TomC
Roar Guru
GOAL GWS William clatters into Greene in the GWS forwardline to effect the spoil. Shiel gathers, brushes off a tackle, straightens and goals from a tight angle. Great goal by Shiel. Brisbane 65 GWS 145
TomC
Roar Guru
GOAL BRISBANE Green runs down Patfull to win the ball in the forwardline for the Lions. A quick kick forward, Keays can't mark, but butters up to find Bewick on the outside. Bewick with composure bends through a goal for Brisbane. A nice moment on a bad day. GWS 139 Brisbane 65
TomC
Roar Guru
Zorko wins a free kick in the backline for the Lions. The free kick count is interesting - 26 for Brisbane and 12 for the Giants, which is the opposite of what you'd expect given the nature of the match.
TomC
Roar Guru
GOAL GWS Ward collects in the middle of the ground for the Giants. Good vision, as he sees Haynes on his own in the forwardline on the far side. The kick reaches Haynes on the bounce, and he has time to run to within 25m and slot an easy goal, the first of the term for either side. Brisbane 59 GWS 139 That is GWS' highest ever score outside NSW.
TomC
Roar Guru
The Lions enjoying some territory at the moment, but unable to kick a goal as yet. 8 minutes to play as Williams takes a relieving mark in defence for the Giants.
TomC
Roar Guru
Green forces it forward for the Lions on the counterattack. Hanley swoops and runs inside 50. He chips a neat little pass to Hipwood in space. And Hipwood somehow manages to miss from 20m out. Still no goals in this last quarter, with 9 minutes to go.
TomC
Roar Guru
TomC
Roar Guru
The ball has been camped in the GWS forwardline for a while now. The Lions only strategy for clearing it is to aimlessly kick it beyond the 50m arc, whereupon it is immediately returned by the GWS midfield. But the Giants don't have any more system for scoring than the Lions do for clearing. Eleven minutes of this whatever-you-want-to-call-it to go.
TomC
Roar Guru
Greene kicks a goal, but is very unfortunate to have given away a free kick immediately before that. The umpire pulled him up for taking the legs of his opponent, but it's difficult to avoid in this slippery weather.
TomC
Roar Guru
For what it's worth, with the score as it is the Giants' percentage will rise to 136.5%, which is enough to bring them into the top four at the end of the round. But I can't help but feel that they're missing an opportunity to really give themselves an edge over the teams around them. Not much intent at the moment.
TomC
Roar Guru
The Giants are peppering the goals at the moment but can't put one through. Ward kicks a behind. Brisbane 57 GWS 133 Very little intensity in this game at the moment. 14 minutes to go.
TomC
Roar Guru
Four minutes into this final quarter and no goals as yet. Very slippery conditions.