AFL finals: Jack Payne pushes semi-final case as stats reveal Darragh Joyce impact for Brisbane Lions
As Jack Payne races the clock to prove his fitness for Saturday night’s semi-final, CALLUM DICK delves into Brisbane’s defensive numbers — and has good news for Lions fans.
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Brisbane finds itself in an all too familiar position as it prepares for Saturday’s cutthroat semi-final against GWS at ENGIE Stadium.
Jack Payne is once again under a fitness cloud after he was subbed out at halftime of the 28-point elimination final victory over Carlton with a knee injury.
Scans on Monday cleared the 197cm, 101kg giant of serious injury to his left knee however whether he will be fully fit to play on Saturday is a question the Lions must get to the bottom of in coming days.
Sporting a brace over a bandaged left knee, Payne completed a light session of mostly run-throughs at training on Tuesday morning.
The 24-year-old missed last year’s preliminary and grand finals with an ankle injury in a major blow for player and club after the Lions Academy product had produced a career-best campaign to help put his side in premiership contention.
Now his 2024 finals campaign also hangs in the balance.
Payne will have one final chance to prove his fitness in Thursday’s main training session before a decision is made on whether he will travel to Sydney to face the Giants.
If Brisbane’s dance with deja vu continues and Payne is ruled out of the semi-final, his understudy Darragh Joyce will be the next man up to take his place in the starting side.
Jack Payne training in his knee brace this morning. Has progressed to a slightly quicker speed. Club still hopeful he will face GWS. pic.twitter.com/wgxWccBERR
— Michael Whiting (@MichaelWhiting) September 10, 2024
Last year it was Darcy Gardiner who got the call-up in Payne’s stead, but Gardiner has already been ruled out for the season with an ACL injury – as has off-season recruit Tom Doedee, who was headhunted by Brisbane to bolster its defensive stocks having struggled to match the output of Payne once he went down with injury.
With Gardiner and Doedee both on ice, if Payne is ruled out it will fall to Joyce – in what would be his first final in his seventh year of AFL football – to fill the void against GWS and possibly beyond, should the Lions get the job done in Sydney.
Crucially, Joyce has already deputised for Payne on six occasions this season. The Irishman came into the AFL side when Payne was sidelined with a bone stress injury in his foot between rounds 18 and 24.
When compared directly to Payne, Joyce’s output in his six-game stint was not much different.
Payne is a marginally better interceptor and offers more pressure at ground level, however Joyce wins a greater percentage of one-on-one duels and is a better distributor when clearing defensive 50.
As a collective, Brisbane’s defensive numbers are marginally worse with Joyce in the side.
The Lions ranked fourth for points against and sixth for scores per inside 50 against with Payne, compared to fifth and seventh respectively when Joyce was playing in his stead.
On Monday, Brisbane co-captain Harris Andrews said it did not matter who played the key post alongside him as the Lions were a system-based side first and foremost.
That sentiment was echoed by fellow defender Brandon Starcevich.
“I feel for him (Payne) and us because he’s really important to us,” Starcevich told this masthead.
“But in his absence in the back end of the year Darragh did a really great job and he played well in the VFL (on Saturday) so if need be he would be a good replacement.
“We’ve played a lot of footy together now so whoever comes in and out we can be pretty comfortable.
“We’ve faced a fair bit of adversity on that front this year. A lot of guys have had exposure to AFL footy and playing within our system.”
Starcevich also marked his return from injury against the Blues, having missed the round 24 win over Essendon with hamstring awareness.
The medium defender will have a major role to play on Saturday in limiting either Giants skipper Toby Greene or Brent Daniels.
“I’m feeling extra fresh having had an extra week off,” Starcevich said.
“I probably would have been fine to play in that bye week if we had to play, but it was nice to take the rehab with no pressure.
“We know our brand stacks up pretty well against (the Giants). We look forward to the challenge.”
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