AFL 2021: Brisbane Lions Round 14 result, Round 15 news and preview
It was Chris Fagan’s party and he’ll give out a bake if he wants to. It took a rev-up from Fagan to lift the Lions over a gallant North Melbourne in his 100th game in charge.
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A Jarryd Lyons masterclass and a resolve to deliver coach Chris Fagan victory for his 100th game as Brisbane coach saw the Lions hold off a rapidly-improving North Melbourne on a wet and slippery night in Hobart.
Having given ladder-leader Melbourne a mighty fright at Blundstone Arena in round seven and after playing a heart-stopping draw against Greater Western Sydney there last Sunday, the Kangaroos set Brisbane a challenge they won’t soon forget.
North led at halftime and pushed Fagan’s Lions in the second until Brisbane broke away in the final term with goals to Lincoln McCarthy and Lachie Neale and took over control in clearances and contested possession.
The win maintained Brisbane’s position at fourth on the ladder and gave Fagan a memorable milestone in his home town in front of his family and friends.
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“He’s been a great asset for the club and the tremendous work that he’s done in the five years he’s been coaching is a credit to him,” said Lion Lachie Neale.
Lyons had a game-high 35 disposals and six clearances.
At the other end, Kangaroos key forward Nick Larkey was the game’s leading goal kicker, bettering his season average of 1.3 per game with 3.1 for North.
The big Roo found space among Brisbane’s big backs to take six marks inside 50 and shapes as a key player in the rebuild at Arden St.
ON YOUR BIKE CHARLIE
North Melbourne’s back line was under siege from the opening bounce with the Lions sending it forward 17 times to 10 in the opening term and only accuracy prevented the Kangaroos being significantly down at the first change.
Lion forward Charlie Cameron was firing on all cylinders, despite the attention of Kangaroos minder Kayne Turner, who had a similar same job at the same ground six days earlier against Giants dangerman Toby Greene.
Cameron kicked the opening goal and narrowly missed a second a few minutes later.
A marking contest with Tarryn Thomas late in the first left Cameron nursing his right arm.
He received medical attention at quarter-time and started the second term with its strapped.
Coach Chris Fagan confirmed Cameron was feeling the pinch from his injury but that he was ok to continue the game.
However, the injury was enough stop Cameron from using his trademark rev-the-motorcycle goal celebration when he kicked his second from a holding free kick deep in time-on in the third.
OLDY BUT A GOODY
He’s been plying his trade at North Melbourne since 2008 but Todd Goldstein is playing as well as ever has in the blue and white stripes.
The 32-year-old ruckman smashed Brisbane at centre bounces and the stoppages, and walked off with 30 hit-outs under his belt at halftime.
The 251-game All-Australian continued his dominance in the second half, racking up a massive 53 hit-outs to give North Melbourne a critical edge.
LIONS MISS THEIR SKIPPER
The loss of the pride of the Lions, skipper Dayne Zorko, to suspension hit hard in the middle for Brisbane.
It was beaten by the Kangaroos at the stoppages and clearances in the first half.
Not even Brownlow Medal-winning Lion king Lachie Neale had enough impact to lead the way in the first half.
After injuring his ankle in Brisbane’s round six win over Carlton, Neale was sidelined by surgery until Brisbane’s loss to Melbourne last start.
Neale was back to near best in the second half, producing a 30-touch performance and 10 tackles.
“We got a bit of a bake as a midfield group to get on our skates and start playing some footy,” Neale said.
Jarryd Lyons (35 disposals, four clearances) and Hugh McCluggage (30 disposals, six clearances) led the charge in the middle, and when Zorko returns the Lions will instantly become significantly more damaging.
Fagan’s halftime ‘bake’ heats up sluggish Lions
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan does not feel like he owes Geelong payback after their controversial one-point heartbreaker in Round 2 as the Lions prepare for their return bout with the Cats at the Gabba on Thursday night.
Geelong won that match after what many believed was an umpiring howler — a missed holding the ball decision a few metres from Brisbane’s goal — but Fagan was not buying into retribution.
“Fages” was just happy to leave Blundstone Arena after his Lions downed a dogged North Melbourne by 23 points to deliver him victory to mark his 100th game as coach in his home town in front of family, friends, and against his mate and former Brisbane colleague, David Noble, in an all-Tasmanian coaching face-off.
Fagan’s attention now turns to Geelong, but not because he feels like they owe them one.
“I don’t look at games that way,” he said.
“It seems like that game was years ago.
“We just want to go out and play well against a high-quality team, who are an excellent chance to win a premiership this year.
“If we want to be the best team we have to beat the best, so these opportunities are great to test yourself and find out where you are at.”
Brisbane’s Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale said Fagan gave his miss-firing on-ballers a “bake” at halftime but Fagan said it was just a reality check.
The Kangaroos ruled in clearances and contested possessions early but the boys from Brisbane got down and dirty in a wet second half.
“I don’t know if it was a bake — we had a strong talk about where we were at and the fact that we hadn’t done as well at clearances as we needed to, particularly the centre bounce,” Fagan said.
“We might have been in front but we weren’t getting any metreage so we needed to go to work on that. Sometimes players need a wake-up.
“We have just had a couple of weeks off and that can be challenging at times.
“It was a good game just to prepare us for Geelong on Thursday night so that is going to be a tough test.”
The absence of skipper Dayne Zorko left the Lions a man down in the middle.
“We’d rather have Dayne in the team, but guys like Dev Robertson, Jaxon Prior, Hugh McCluggage, Jarryd Lyons lifted tonight, and Lachie Neale was good,” Fagan said.
“With weight of numbers in there, they did a really good job.
“It will be nice to have ‘Zorks’ back for Thursday night because he’s an inspirational player and tends to break open the play.”
Noble said honourable losses won’t dent the moral of the Kangaroos.
“If you came to our place [Arden St] and walked in the front door you would feel the energy and the bubble that we are building,” he said.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating we were not able to put a win on the board today, and we missed one last week, but we are really clear on where we are going.
“We’ve got internal measures we are working toward, and there were some things we got right again tonight, and as we continue to get better the frustration will only build when you don’t get as much right as you think you should.
“We’re still a young team, especially when you look at our average age in the front half, which is about 22.5-years-old.
“So it’s a young team and they’re still learning the caper.”
SCOREBOARD
LIONS 2.4 3.7 6.9 9.14 (68)
ROOS 1.2 4.3 5.6 6. 9 (45)
GOALS
Roos: Larkey 3, Zurhaar 2, Stephenson
Lions: Cameron 2, McCarthy 2, Daniher, Bailey, Hipwood, Neale, Robertson
BEST
Brisbane: Lyons, McCluggage, Neale, Bailey, Birchall, McCarthy.
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Simpkin, Goldstein, Hall, Cunnington, Larky.
VENUE
Blundstone Arena
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
3 J Lyons BL
2 H McCluggage BL
1 T Goldstein NM
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Originally published as AFL 2021: Brisbane Lions Round 14 result, Round 15 news and preview
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