Roos says win can set Lions alight

Amazing careers: Ashley McGrath and Simon Black are chaired off after McGrath's 200th game and Black's 320th game. Source: Getty Images

BRISBANE will head into their clash against Hawthorn with a giant-killer mentality after claiming another top-two scalp at the weekend.

Veteran Simon Black described the win over the Cats as the best he had been involved in since the 2003 premiership win over Collingwood, and urged his teammates to carry the momentum to Launceston.

It repeated a pattern for the Lions, who have knocked over West Coast, Adelaide, Essendon and Geelong in the past two seasons, all of which were in the top two and considered legitimate premiership contenders at the time.

Premiership-winning coach Paul Roos said the win showed Brisbane's top-tier players such as Black, Matthew Leuenberger and Daniel Rich were in the AFL's top level.

The former Swans coach said the Lions' greatest ever comeback victory could be the catalyst for a major form reversal.

He said the win should act as a confidence-booster, but warned against attacking the corridor in an attempt to replicate the formula of the frantic final moments when the Lions swept the ball the length of the field and into the hands of Ash McGrath, who slotted a goal after the siren to secure the win.

Geelong was still trying to score in the latter stages of the quarter, rather than holding on to the footy and stopping Brisbane's momentum.

It is a formula that has served the Cats well, but Roos does not believe Hawthorn would give Brisbane the same chances.

"If you try to go through the corridor every time you will turn the ball over and a side like Hawthorn will score against you," he said.

"What I took from the last 15 minutes was not that the corridor opened up, it was that Brisbane started making great decisions. Their better players got their hands on the ball and made the right choices; they are talented at that top level."

Roos said Brisbane did not need to drastically alter the way they had prepared all year, they needed was consistency of effort.

He said while Hawthorn had superior talent to the Lions, the major difference between the top sides and the rest of the competition was their ability to stay switched on until the final siren.

"Football is about minimising risk," he said. "That's why I get frustrated with commentators when they say take risks, take risks.

"What Brisbane did was they minimised the risks because they had free players in the middle."

The Lions honoured Black's club-games record throughout the game on Sunday afternoon, with an appearance by previous record holder Marcus Ashcroft and big
screen messages of congratulations.

But it was his teammates who paid him the greatest respect with their effort.

"That was the best win I've been involved in since the 2003 flag," Black said.

"It was incredible; momentum, it is a living thing."

20.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cats to give no more quarter

Mathew Stokes admits the Cats "probably" switched off with the game in their control late in the third term. Picture: Mike Dugdale Source: Geelong Advertiser

MATHEW Stokes says Geelong's capitulation to the Brisbane Lions was unacceptable and every player must take responsibility for his part in Sunday's final quarter debacle.

The Cats led by 52 points before the Lions stormed home in the dramatic final term to record the equal-eighth greatest comeback in league history.

Stokes admitted the Cats "probably" switched off with the game in their control late in the third term and said the players were stunned, shocked and hurting.

He conceded they could no longer sweep their poor form "under the rug", but backed the character of the players to respond for blockbuster games against Fremantle and Hawthorn.

"We've forged a reputation over a number of years now, nearly from when I first got here (2006), that (these performances are) just not acceptable," Stokes said.

"I think every player who played (on Sunday) has to take responsibility for it and I think we will. The good thing about our group is we win together but we also lose together.

"We don't point at each other and say, 'It's your fault, it's his fault, it's this area's fault'. It's a team loss, but it was a really bad loss.

"We got overrun by a team with a lot of enthusiasm and we didn't stand up when we needed to."

Stokes admitted the Cats made bad decisions.

"I think there were periods in the game where we could have slowed the game down a lot," he said.

"We made some really poor decisions out there, as a group, not individually..

"To lose to a team not in the eight, in a game we're expected to win, when you're up by that many points at halftime and come away with a loss, is extremely hard to take and disappointing."

It was the biggest comeback in Brisbane's history and Geelong's worst capitulation since it surrendered a 54-point lead against West Coast in 2006.

Even though the Cats have been prone to inconsistency this year, they have been able to get themselves out of most situations.

"We've been struggling to play our best for a few weeks now," Stokes said.

"It's going to be a massive task next week (against Fremantle). We struggled badly in the second half and it needs to be rectified and worked on quickly because we've got ourselves into a really good position (10-2) and to have that performance is not on and something that, as players, we're not going to accept."

 

20.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Moored in misery

• by: Sam Edmund
• From: Herald Sun
• June 24, 2013 11:30PM

THE man who preaches defence more than any other in football had to employ it when he was announced as the new coach of Fremantle.

20.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Final Demon pillar topples

• by: Jon Ralph
• From: Herald Sun
• June 24, 2013 11:30PM

MELBOURNE'S administrative overhaul has now claimed every position of power at the club, after list manager Tim Harrington was made redundant.

20.11 | 0 komentar | Read More