Brisbane Lions forward Dan McStay says his team believes it’s not making up the numbers
The Brisbane Lions won 16 matches to earn a double chance and a home final, yet some are still doubting them. Forward Dan McStay can’t work out why.
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Brisbane forward Dan McStay admits while the club’s meteoric rise has been “crazy”, he’s surprised by the lack of faith outside the Gabba and says the Lions are ready to silence the doubters.
The recent 100-gamer didn’t hesitate when asked whether the Lions have the belief they can end a 17-year flag drought, pointing to a year of on-field dominance and big scalps.
“The funny thing for me is that people are still doubting us to some extent,” McStay said.
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“We haven’t got here by luck. We’ve been through a five-month, 22-game test and we’ve done really well to get here.
“Sure, it’s not over but we’re not resting on what we’ve achieved so far.
“We believed round 1 that we could beat West Coast and we went into round 23 with the belief we could beat Richmond
“Things didn’t work out for us there but we still believed and we definitely have the belief that we’ll win our first final up here.”
One of Brisbane’s more reserved characters, McStay says he’s nevertheless been buoyed and enthused by the Lions’ Duracell bunny trio of Cam Rayner, Dayne Zorko and Charlie Cameron.
“Cam and Charlie are definitely the ones driving the enthusiasm and when guys are up and about, the boys are all laughing and having a good time,” McStay said.
“Obviously Zorks is known for that enthusiasm as well, so those three really bring an infectious energy to the club and we’ve been feeding off that all year.
“I think that’s really shown in their seasons as well, all three have been fantastic.”
Cameron, now an All-Australian, has been the competition’s leading small forward, while Rayner and Zorko have shrugged off form and injury concerns in the back half of the season.
All three will need to be at their attacking best when flag favourites Richmond roll into town for next week’s qualifying final, with McStay determined to lift the Lions forward line after being shown up in Round 23.
“As forwards, I think we let ourselves down and we probably let the team down early on against Richmond,” McStay said.
“We went a little bit away from our structure, we wanted to play body to body and we didn’t do that, which allowed them to take too many marks from our kicks and start their offence from back in our forward 50.
“We lost that game in the first quarter, so if we’re able to cut down those early errors, we’re more than a chance next week.”
Originally published as Brisbane Lions forward Dan McStay says his team believes it’s not making up the numbers
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