‘Lose trust’: Brisbane Lions exposed by damning footage

Brisbane Lions captain Lachie Neale tore into his own teammates after their season-opening choke. New footage shows why.

The Brisbane Lions struggled everywhere in the second half. Photo: Fox Footy and Nine.

Lions captain Lachie Neale said his team was guilty of lazy actions that were basically “s***ting on your teammates”.

New footage exposed on Wednesday night shows exactly that.

Brisbane was blown off the Gabba in an extraordinary second half choke against Carlton after leading by 46 points in the second quarter.

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Neale was brutal in his assessment of his team when speaking to reporters on Tuesday — and footy commentators on Wednesday night showed why the club’s capitulation was so ugly.

St Kilda great Leigh Montagna called out the Lions’ game management at the end of the fourth quarter.

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd also gave the Lions a whip after showcasing several moments where Lions players took selfish options.

Lloyd, speaking on Channel 9’s Footy Classified, showed a clip of Carlton going coast to coast off the back of a 50m penalty.

The clip showed Lions forwards, including Darcy Gardiner and Cam Rayner, failed to put pressure on the ball-carrier and allowed Carlton to make a speedy kick inside fifty off the back of a simple chip and handball.

The Brisbane Lions struggled everywhere in the second half. Photo: Fox Footy and Nine.

The video also showed defender Jack Payne struggled to put body contact on Charlie Curnow when the Blues forward dropped an overhead mark but had enough time to pick up the crumbs and kick a goal.

“That was lazy from one end to the other,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd also took a swipe at Lions forward Joe Daniher for failing to pass to wide open teammate Lincoln McCarthy when he bombed away from outside fifty and kicked a point.

“This is a no-no from Joey Daniher because you lose trust in your teammates,” he said.

“When you know he’s not really going to kick to me. He’s not even wanting to even look.... McCarthy wonders next time do I even lead for the footy?”

Montagna’s assessment of the Lions was just as brutal when highlighting the team’s failures in the final minutes.

As reported by foxsports.com.au, statistics show Brisbane has lost seven of their past 11 matches decided by 10 points or less – including last year’s grand final defeat to Collingwood.

Montagna, who highlighted Brisbane’s struggles late in games last season, questioned if the club had worked on finding a fix for 2024 after coughing up eight of the last 10 goals against Carlton.

“I would have thought their whole pre-season would have been focusing on the little attention to detail,” he said on AFL 360.

“They haven’t been able to finish the job when they’ve needed to – so what have they learnt from the premiers, Collingwood who are the best at it by a mile?

A dejected Lachie Neal. Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“I’m wondering have they learnt?”

Montagna highlighted vision of Lions’ Jarrod Berry, Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage all opting to play on late in the contest – despite senior teammates Charlie Cameron, Dayne Zorko and Harris Andrews all appealing for them to slow the play down.

Instead, all three produced turnovers.

And when Carlton’s Harry McKay marked late in the contest as Brisbane failed to have a spare man back, it was the Blues who took the lead and hung on for the win.

“You don’t need to ice the game for six and a half minutes,” Montagna said of the Lions’ turnovers.

“What Collingwood would do is value time. They’d take a minute, minute and a half off the clock, get their defenders set up behind the ball, get organised and seal the game from there.

“If they had of just been able to milk that time, there may not have been that opportunity (for McKay).

“Harry McKay has this big paddock in front of him (without the spare man back) and that’s the winning goal. I’m thinking for a team at the pointy end of the competition for six years now, they should have this down pat.

“How to close out a game, what it should look like. They were just on a different page.

“I’d like to think on the field – you see Zorko (saying) slow it down, Harris Andrews (signalling) slow it down. But the players in that moment didn’t have the composure.

“They’ve got to improve that part of their game.

“Whether they like it or not, the numbers are stacking up now. They’ve won four of their last 11 games decided by 10 points or less. It’s a trend.”

The Lions will need to do better to overcome Fremantle in Perth on Sunday.

Originally published as ‘Lose trust’: Brisbane Lions exposed by damning footage