AFL 2022 Brisbane Lions v Essendon: All the news, analysis from the round 17 contest

The Brisbane Lions are in ‘complete lockdown’ as the club desperately attempts to curb a Covid outbreak which reached 22 over the weekend. Here’s the latest.

Lauren Wood

@LaurenHeraldSun

8 min read

July 11, 2022 - 5:13PM

News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 10: Mitch Robinson of the Lions celebrates a goal during the 2022 AFL Round 17 match between the Brisbane Lions and the Essendon Bombers at The Gabba on July 10, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

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Brisbane has placed its club into “complete lockdown” as it desperately attempts to curb a Covid outbreak amid its fight for a top four spot.

Some AFL clubs — including St Kilda and Essendon — have moved to remind players to use common sense when it comes to social interactions and distancing and are keeping a close eye on things like access to dressing rooms as Covid cases continue to emerge across the competition.

The Lions were forced to sideline five players from Sunday’s clash with Essendon under the league’s health and safety protocols as they fight to retain their place on the ladder following an outbreak that last week reached 22 players and staff members.

Players were also withdrawn from Essendon, Gold Coast, Adelaide and West Coast’s teams in Round 17.

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Lachie Neale leads the Lions out in Round 17. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos

The Gabba outbreak has resulted in the Lions putting a raft of preventive measures in place including daily Covid testing and consulting with a top infectious diseases specialist.

“The AFL has gone back to testing (players) twice a week and once on game day … as a club, we decided to go back to testing every day at the start of two weeks ago, because we started getting a couple of cases,” Lions football boss Danny Daly said on Monday.

“There’s a third wave coming through which is pretty severe in the community. I think we had 4000 cases in Queensland over the weekend.

“It’s not ideal and we’ve gone into complete lockdown at the club trying to protect it as much as we can.”

The league is determined to push on with the finals series regardless of Covid-19 infection rates within clubs, ruling out rescheduling finals even if extensive cases emerge.

Daly said the Lions had been working closely with Dr Paul Griffin – director of infectious diseases at Brisbane’s Mater Private Hospital – as it attempts to combat further spread.

Players who did not play in Sunday’s loss to Essendon did not attend the ground, while the Lions are also endeavouring to split players into smaller groups for training and meetings.

It has also put a stop to external player appearances in the short term.

“(At the Gabba) we’re right down in the bunkers and there’s just no air through there. Once you get something down there, it spreads pretty quickly,” he told RadioTAB.

“We’ve had to sanitise the whole joint and go back to mask wearing and a few things.

“We’re trying to do the best we can to contain it. Last week was a pretty average week for us. We had 22 in total – players and staff.”

Noah Answerth will miss this weekend’s clash with GWS after testing positive on Saturday. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Noah Answerth will miss this weekend’s clash with Greater Western Sydney after he tested positive on Saturday, while Daly said those who were expected to return to the club in coming days would need to be assessed before their availability to play could be determined.

But he conceded with the ongoing spread, “we could lose a few more, to be honest”.

He said while the key absences had an impact on the game, the team would not be using it as an excuse.

“It does (make it hard). At the end of the day, we didn’t get the points … but we were proud of the kids that came in and had a crack,” Daly said.

“I won’t make excuses, but it’ll be nice to get some players back and have a crack at the Giants (this weekend).”

Maturing Bombers dent Lions’ top-four aspirations

– Greg Davis

Essendon senior coach Ben Rutten says the victory against Brisbane on the road shows the maturity and resilience that is developing at the Bombers.

“There’s a bit of a disruption for them (Brisbane). It was eight or nine changes they had but they still had a pretty experienced, potent team out there and to come up to the Gabba at any time against these guys at the moment is a difficult task,’’ he said.

“I don’t think we’ve won up here since 2018. We knew we are going to be up for the fight, Brisbane we’re going to bring it to us and, yeah, I was really pleased with the way we stuck at it.

“They’re the sorts of games against good teams on the road that we need to be up for. I thought the way we handled it showed some maturity and some real grit.

Essendon players celebrate after winning the match against the Brisbane Lions. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“To be able to see the progress especially over the last few weeks has been good for our goals. We’ve been really clear and consistently training at a high level over a period of time and that’s how you get the results over the last few weeks, from putting that work in.

“Our group’s building some confidence and building some momentum in what we’re doing day-to-day.”

Rutten said Wright was a “big presence” along with Kyle Langford while Jye Caldwell’s job to keep Lachie Neale to 21 touches was a “really strong effort”.

He said the corked thigh to Massimo D’Ambrosio was at the more serious end of the scale.

Meanwhile, Brisbane hopes to welcome back up to eight of the nine frontliners who missed the 10-point loss to Essendon.

Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko, Daniel Rich, Jarrod Berry (all hamstrings) and Jaxon Prior (quad) are rated a “chance” of taking on GWS in Canberra on Saturday while Harris Andrews, Cal Ah Chee, Keidean Coleman and Dan McStay will emerge from Covid protocols.

Only Noah Answerth — who tested positive to Covid on Saturday — is not in the frame to take on the Giants.

Ben Rutten said Jye Caldwell’s job to keep Lachie Neale to 21 touches was great.

Massimo D’Ambrosio grimaces in pain after coming off with a corked thigh.

Lions senior coach Chris Fagan said given it was a “crazy week’’ with so many players ruled out of the game, he was proud of the effort to get so close to the Bombers as Brisbane got within four points of the visitors in the last two minutes.

“It was a really challenging week losing two or three players every day…I thought our effort today to hang in there under those circumstances was great,’’ he said.

“I know the numbers look like Essendon dominated the game but we’re not a big numbers team anyway.

“I thought our spirit just to keep hanging in there…and still be a chance to win the game with a couple of minutes to go was full of credit.

“I’m not going to go home tonight unhappy with them at all. I’m going to go home disappointed that we lost the game and frustrated but in terms of effort and trying hard.

“We can’t cry over spilled milk. We’ve been dealt a hand with some circumstances out of our control. We did the best we could under those circumstances. These are the times that we live in.’’

Fagan said Essendon’s ability to kick goals from centre clearances was the difference on the day and the Lions paid the price for turning the ball over.

“I didn’t think our ball use was good enough in the first half, so that didn’t challenge them enough…we didn’t quite snap quickly enough when they won the footy,’’ he said.

Improving Bombers damage Lions’ top four aspirations

The injury and illness ravaged Brisbane narrowly failed the depth test with the Peter Wright-inspired Essendon claiming a 10-point win over the depleted Lions at the Gabba on Sunday.

Brisbane had nine first-choice players ruled out of the match due to Covid and injury and the Bombers seized the opportunity against the wounded Lions with Wright kicking five goals after dominating the aerial contests in Essendon’s forward line.

It was Brisbane’s first loss at the Gabba since the semi-final against the Western Bulldogs last season and their first home-and-away defeat at the ground since the loss to Sydney in Round 1 in 2022.

Jye Caldwell was a shining light for the Bombers in the midfield. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Lions lost 887 games of experience with the likes of captain Dayne Zorko, Daniel Rich, Harris Andrews, Dan McStay and Jarrod Berry heading the long list of absentees but welcomed in 559 games of senior footy.

But they lacked any sort of defensive pressure and efficient ball movement to surpass the Bombers who were the better side all day.

The Lions dropped to a 11-5 record to put pressure on their top four aspirations while the Bombers have now won three of their last four outings to improve to 5-11.

Brisbane closed to within four points of the Bombers after a Lachie Neale point with two minutes left on the clock but Essendon’s Matt Guelfi kicked a goal after the siren from a free kick to extend the final margin.

Brisbane cut Essendon’s buffer to 12 points by the last change after a see-sawing third term when the Lions made two runs at the Bombers only for Wright to keep the home side at arm’s length with three goals for the quarter.

Kyle Langford celebrates one of his four goals. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

After going goal-for-goal for most of the opening two quarters, Essendon booted the last three majors before the main break to take a 16-point lead into halftime to cash-in on their dominance highlighted by the 80 more disposals than Brisbane.

In a damning statistic for the Lions, the Bombers had 67 more uncontested possessions than the home side who lacked fluency with the ball and accountability in defence.

A better side than the 16th-placed Essendon would have put the Lions to the sword after having 10 marks inside 50 compared to Brisbane’s three.

BIG BOMBER CLEARY MADE OF THE WRIGHT STUFF

Peter Wright enjoyed the perfect conditions for football as he controlled the air in Essendon’s forward 50, especially in the third term when he kicked three goals. With such clean hands and a true boot at 203cm tall, Wright gave Brisbane headaches in their first meeting in 2022 and he was at it again, strongly outmarking Jack Payne with the Bombers pumping the ball inside 50 under little pressure from Brisbane. He booted his fifth in the last quartet to underline his best-on-ground performance.

Peter Wright takes a strong mark. The key forward finished the game with five goals. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

ZERO DEFENSIVE PRESSURE LETS VISITORS OFF HOOK

Yes, Brisbane was incredibly undermanned, especially in the backline which understandably lacked cohesion, but defence in any sport is still all about attitude. And the long list of outs for the Lions was no excuse for the poor defensive display in the first half. There was simply no defensive pressure from the home side as the Bombers moved the ball with ease. Essendon players found themselves in wide open spaces far too often. Brisbane did not have the intent to work back and pick up a man which comes down to hard-running and desperation — not resumes.

LANGFORD SETS NEW BENCHMARK IN FRONT OF GOAL

Kyle Langford’s career-best haul of goals was three before the first bounce at the Gabba. He equalled that mark in the second term alone with three majors to help the Bombers to a healthy lead. Langford found himself in space and grabbed four marks for three goals and one behind before halftime as well as a scoring assists in his 10 disposals. He set a new personal best with his fourth goal in the fourth term.

TRADEMARK ROBBO BETTER THAN NO ROBBO AT ALL

He may give away the odd free kick and turn the ball over with the occasional hack-and-hope in traffic but Mitch Robinson showed why he needs to be Brisbane’s 22 in the back-half of the season. Robinson brings much-needed aggression, physicality and old-fashioned mongrel. Qualities that are not in an abundance elsewhere on the list. He produced three bone-crunching tackles in the first half and booted a goal as well as getting in a scuffle. It was trademark Robbo and Brisbane have to take the good with the bad.