The ten players your team can least afford to lose: Brisbane Lions

Also, Stefan Martin finishing 7th in the Best and Fairest is no small feat considering the team were second on the ladder. I would say Martin is still playing well and has not dropped off.

Since when were Brisbane average? They finished 2nd last year. What you should say is that they are a well-rounded team.

Now Doran , I am new to your articles and have only read two so far. I am believing three possibilities. 1. You are hankering first a slightly fuller version of Titus O’Reilly ironic articles and critiques, whilst building up your fan base surreptitiously 2. You deliberately make inflammatory grandiose comments or ridiculous selections to inspire a click bait reaction to your articles 3. You have a level of aloofness and arrogance, sprinkled with a touch of delusional thinking that is usually consistent with following a big, inner city Melbourne Club but have decided to comment on not just your team or main rivals, so therefore you are outside your comfort zone I will read the other 16 club ‘least 10’ articles to assist me in informing my opinion. Currently, theory 3 is the club house leader. “Average club” is a little too pointed and too specific to be a throw away line. The malice involved points to back to back GF disappointments in the early naughties , probably. You actually did okay but Stephan Martin is in Top 5, probably 4th, after Neale , Cameron and Andrews. I would exclude Rich and Witherden and replace in their places exactly Gardiner and Berry. Berry could take Witherden, Rich or Lyons’ roles. No one can play fast, tall AND small like Gardiner. Mitch Robinson only misses out to players 10 years younger than him - if he was 2 or 3 years younger he would be in top 7. 10. Lyons 9. Berry 8. Hipwood 7. Zorko 6.Gardiner 5. McCluggage 4. Martin 3. Cameron 2. Andrews 1. Neale I would probably change the top 4 order but it is inconsequential, losing any of top 4 makes the Lions a weaker team because they cannot be replaced - every other player (except maybe Gardiner mmmm ) can play a role in a similar way to a similar output - not as consistently well, but similar. Hugh Mc is at number 5 because although his role can be replaced he is going to be an elite star and that pips him above the 2nd least losable defender.

The Kane Cornes of the Roar?

I know it’s a poor opening line, but I was surprised at the widespread condemnation of Doran. So I looked at a past article “AFL Preseason Challenge Cup: Western Australia“…yikes! Equally widespread antipathy. And it was justified. Nathan Vardy as CHF for WA! 5 talls in the forward line, Acres starts in the midfield ahead of Yeo, Mundy & Hill. Sorry, but what on earth …!

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...' Another famous opening line that drew a reaction. LOL :-)

Brisbane are hardly an “average team”. Quite a few great players and very watchable playing style.

'an average team with quite a few deficiencies, making it difficult to find ten players.' Potential to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Do you watch AFL? Have you watched a single Brisbane Lions game?

Midfielders are more replaceable than KPF and KPD, elite small feds Lacie Neale is there best player, but he is more replaceable, than Charlie Cameron, he would be my nbr 1 plus Harris Andrew is nbr 2, vying for nbr 1 spot.

Wow Doran, just WOW. The Brisbane Lions have an average team with quite a few deficiencies, making it difficult to find ten players they could least afford to lose in 2020..... I look forward to the descriptions of the 14 teams that finished below the Lions on the ladder last year....... As for your 10. I would suggest you find some consistency for one..... When picking A Combined QLD team you left Stefan Martin out..... Your reasoning.....He's past his best..... Yet now he's in Brisbane less can afford to lose list..... As for the rest of the list, someone with zero understanding of how the Lions works... Probably not bad effort. I'll throw a few very important cogs into the Mix. Zac Bailey & Jarryd Berry I think are two important cogs of how the Lions will continue to grow and hopefully get themselves away from the "average descripition". For their inclusion you can take Witherden out ( He's going to be a solid player and will continue to play a role, but I don't think he will be as vital as Bailey will be playing as a small running defender. For Berry inclusion- I'm pushing Hipwood out. My reasoning for Hipwood out- is that I don't think the Lions forward line would lose too much of it's productivity. They rely much more on mids / smaller forwards in Zorko, Lyons, McCarthy & Cameron then they do the big forward. I would actually say Daniel McStay is much more important to the Lions set up then Hippy. I can see Hippy having a break out year, but if he was not to play at all this season, The Lions won't be falling off a cliff because of him.

I would have had Stefen Martin in the top five. He helps clear the ball from a contest, provides a ruck contest and runs and becomes another midfielder like in the mold of past ruck greats in Cox, Stynes, Madden and modern day Grundy. Like you say, Brisbane have no ruck support hence they cannot afford to loose him.

If we did an article about the top ten authors the roar could least afford to lose I doubt Doran would crack the 50

If you’re going to call the team that finished second last season “average” you may as well abandon all pretense of objectivity in the next 16 articles and just call them “here’s some players I like from a club I do/don’t like”