Robbo: Lions must take leaf from unsociable Hawks’ book
Brisbane have been found wanting in recent finals series. If something is to change, Chris Fagan and his Lions have to adopt a moniker from the Hawks’ golden era.
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After too many soft finals exits, the Lions have to adopt a moniker from Chris Fagan’s old team Hawthorn.
That’s to become the unsociable Lions.
The Lions have answered and/or eradicated several questions this season, which included adding more speed to the back half, and adding Josh Dunkley’s grunt to the midfield, and overall maturing as a team.
But will they be as ruthless as they should be, this weekend and next?
The last time they were in a preliminary final, 2022, they were bounced by Geelong by 12 goals.
In 2020, it was again Geelong in a preliminary final, that time by seven goals.
Call it a hoodoo, or unlucky, or mentally not ready, but preliminary finals have found them wanting.
Carlton is tough, but sore. Patrick Cripps has a rib injury, while Blake Acres and Sam Docherty might be one bump away from another dislocation. It’s a centre-line held together by duct tape.
Former lieutenant of the Hawks unsociable brand, Jordan Lewis, says the Lions have to target the injured trio. Former Hawks skipper Luke Hodge said much the same on SEN Radio on Wednesday morning.
Fagan knows their mindset. He was head of footy at the Hawks when Hodge, Lewis and Co tormented the opposition.
Is it foot to the throat from Fagan’s players and bash down Cripps, Docherty and Acres at every opportunity, or has footy changed to the point where it’s wiser to worry about suspensions than it is the winged opposition?
Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas said it would be foolish for the Lions to single out individuals
“When you’re focusing over-aggressively … and it’s an interesting point that most teams these days are focusing on smiling, happiness, and having totally different body language when entering the game, because it’s been shown to relax them more,’’ Thomas said.
“Rather than that aggressive, let’s bowl-these-bastards over sort of thing that doesn’t work these days. You’re focusing on the wrong thing.
“Make the unbridled pressure from the whole team ask the question of Cripps, and ask the question to Acres and the other injuries. Make it 100 per cent from the team, not the attack on the individual.’’
The combative Lewis thought otherwise.
“The Lions have to play right at their limit, from a physical point of view, and sometimes people overstep it and that’s unfortunate,’’ he said, citing Melbourne’s Kozzy Pickett’s over-the-top ill-discipline against the Blues.
“But you’re playing for keeps now, you’re not playing for four points, you’re paying to go into a grand final.
“Those Carlton blokes have got to be tested.
“As a player, there is information that you know and can exploit and there’s information you don’t know. You would be derelict in your duty not to expose legally the information you know.’’
Players can’t be clobbered like yesteryear, but the emphasis on strong tackling, gang tackling, and pressure must be high-end, Lewis said,
“When they’re running past you, you bump them, by any means that you can think of,’’ Lewis said.
“Let’s be honest Cripps will be in the middle of the ground, so there might be an opportunity in the first 30 seconds to tackle him, make sure it’s two or three going after him.’’
He conceded behaviours had changed since the Hawks three-peat era, but back then coach Alastair Clarkson would “take a risk winding us up’’.
“He knew we would be competitive anyway, but he knew when we were really wound up there was a risk that we could overstep the mark, and give away a 50m penalty or give away a free kick or get suspended,” he said.
“He knew that was a risk, but the reward was you get a reputation as a team being hard to play against, and the reward is the intimidation and the reward is being successful.
“So, what are you prepared to do?
“I always used to say, what do you want to feel like after the game?
“Try to take yourself to after the game and think, if I had had a chance to be physical, or I should’ve done this or that and you did nothing … you’ve got a chance right now to change that thought, or a chance to change the course of a game.
“Don’t be sitting there after the game, saying, ‘bloody hell, I had to be more physical’, Cripps had an unbelievable game and we should’ve herded him to the ground, don’t be sitting there saying, ‘I should’ve done this’.”
The Lions have impressed Thomas this season, yet he has lingering doubt about some players being fragile, and just how the Lions will combat Carlton and the pressure if the game plays out to the death.
“There’s a couple of individual players who might fit under the category of being questioned about their fragility and to be mentally and physically tough,’’ Thomas said.
“But generally, the Lions have shown to be pretty tough and resilient, albeit they haven’t had the record down in Melbourne as they would like. But up there, they have been fantastic.
“Their DNA is more focused on skill, ball movement, connection, but they don’t shirk the issue.
“They just should win and if they don’t, a pretty significant question mark comes against them.”
He argued the Lions were probably a five-goal better side than Carlton, but also argued that the longer the Blues could stay with the Lions, the more pressure would heaped on the home side.
“If Carlton can stay close enough for long enough, it’s going to bring into play Brisbane’s mental and physical fragility,” he said.
“There’s one thing for certain, pressure makes weakies out of all us.’’
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