Brisbane Lions recover from horror month to get season back on track

After a disappointing month, the Brisbane Lions finally rediscovered their mojo against the Fremantle Dockers on Sunday.

The Lions have return to form at the expense of a top eight hopeful in Fremantle. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Chris Fagan believes his side has finally returned to playing a brand of football that can stand up in an AFL finals series.

After a month of less-than-flattering football, the Lions returned to their best in Perth on Sunday, thrashing the eight-placed Fremantle by 64-points.

And with some A-graders set to return next week, Fagan believes his Lions are well placed to challenge this season.

From the opening bounce against the Dockers, the Lions set the tone for the game in intensity and finished the game with 71 tackles to the Lions’ 35, despite also having had 34 more possessions.

Fagan said that his side is playing at its best when it plays a hard, dogged style.

“Anyone who follows the Lions and has seen our better games, that’s how we play,” Fagan said.

“We win the contested ball, get it forward and put plenty of pressure on and create enough opportunities for ourselves to kick a winning score.

“It’s a part of our trademark; when the Lions play well, they have the forward pressure on.

“We talk a lot about that during the week; we thought that part of our game had drifted a bit.

“So, for the players to take it upon themselves to do that – it was exciting. They were led well in the tackling department by their captain (Dayne Zorko), who had 10 tackles for the game.”

Of the Lions’ 71 tackles, 25 were laid in their forward line. As a result, they had eight goal scorers, led by Joe Daniher with four.

Fagan said he thought Daniher was getting better with each outing and said he could sense during the week the former Bomber was setting himself for a good performance against the Dockers to help the team to bounce back.

“You must remember, he has played hardly any football for three years,” Fagan said.

“Darcy Gardiner is a good chance of playing next week and Lachie Neale will play. He missed today with gastro.

“It’s good to have those A-graders coming back. Lachie has missed a lot of football this year and Darcy has hardly played at all, so if we can get them going it will help us for sure.”

Although subbed out of the win against Fremantle with calf tightness, Mitch Robinson is also expected to be fit to play against Collingwood, in Round 22.

The Lions’ preparation for the game against the Magpies won’t be perfect though. They will remain in Perth at the start of the week, awaiting direction from the AFL as to where they can travel to and when.

However, they will be stuck in quarantine in a hotel, with the usual open spaces of Joondalup Resort in Perth’s northern suburbs unavailable due to a conference.

Fagan is hopeful the game against the Pies can still be played in Brisbane.

“We just wait for the news each morning to see how many Covid cases they have in different states,” he said.

“I’m proud of our guys. We’ve played two games at the Gabba in 10 weeks and we’re still in this competition with a great chance.

“It’s a credit to our players and their attitude.”

Since Round 11, the Lions have played at the Sydney Showgrounds, Bellerive, Adelaide Oval, York Park, Optus Stadium and twice each at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast and the Gabba.

Fagan previously said the Lions prepared well for their clash with the Dockers and that they had one of their best training sessions in “a long time” during the week. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

The Brisbane Lions all-but cemented their place in the top six of the AFL ladder with a business-like 64-point win over Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Sunday.

Only a massive turn of form and three big wins from West Coast in the run home can push the Lions out of that top six.

The Eagles still have games against Melbourne, Fremantle and the Lions.

So, all being equal, which it is unlikely to be, the 18.10 (118) to 8.6 (54) win means the Lions should play at home in the first round of finals.

The win also stopped a worrying slide for Chris Fagan’s men who had lost three of their past four games going into this round.

They had sat as high as third spot on the ladder, as recently as Round 16, after a 52-point win over Adelaide.

Those three recent losses were against sides not currently in the top eight – St Kilda, Richmond and Hawthorn.

And they were bad losses, winning a total of only four quarters in those three games.

Against the Dockers, they won all four, bouncing out of the gates and extending their lead at every change.

Criticised for a lack of intensity, they put on 71 tackles over the four quarters, to the Dockers’ 35, also winning the contested possessions count by nine.

In the absence of the injured Eric Hipwood, Joe Daniher (R) booted four goals on Sunday. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Leaders standing up

With Lachie Neale sidelined with illness, captain Dayne Zorko stepped up, with 34 touches, 17 of them contested. He also had 11 inside 50s and put on 10 tackles.

Brisbane had eight goal scorers, seven of those kicking more than one goal. Joe Daniher equalled his best goal haul as a Lion, with four, including two in the second term.

Jarrod Berry was also terrific, playing a tagging role on dangerous Dockers midfielder Andrew Brayshaw.

Brayshaw had averaged almost 30 touches a game since the Dockers Round 14 bye and has also been a matchwinner.

He was brilliant in Fremantle’s four-point win over Richmond a week earlier with captain Nat Fyfe sidelined.

Brayshaw was still good, with 25 possessions, but wasn’t his usual damaging best.

Caleb Serong, with 30 touches, was Fremantle’s best and veteran David Mundy improved as the game went on.

Advantage came too late

The Dockers went in to the game quite tall, with Matt Taberner, Lloyd Meek, Josh Tracey and Sean Darcy all running through forward 50m.

They Lions’ chances of stopping them weren’t helped when 197cm defender Jack Payne was forced from the side before the game with a leg injury, replaced by Keidean Coleman.

Ironically, it wasn’t until the rain fell at the start of the third quarter that those Docker talls came to the fore.

Trying to fight back from 45 points down at half-time, Meek, Tracey and Darcy all kicked goals early in the second half to get the margin back to 33. But Brisbane was able to settled and kicked the last three goals of the term.

Lions captain Dayne Zorko chalked up 34 disposals to go with one goal, 10 tackles and seven clearances. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Tough job for Freo

The Dockers’ road to the final eight and September action is pretty tough now.

They started the round in eighth spot after beating Richmond by four points at home last weekend.

But they will finish it in 12th.

It was their fourth loss from their past six rounds.

The best they can do is finish with 11 wins, if they can win both of their remaining games, against West Coast and St Kilda.

Also going against them is that of the four sides on nine wins with two rounds remaining (Fremantle, Essendon, Richmond and St Kilda), the Dockers have the worst percentage.

Lions roaring early

Brisbane was up to the task early, equalling its best opening term for the season, with 6.4.

It was needed from the Lions, a week after being kept to just one point in the first term against Hawthorn.

Not that Fremantle did itself any favours. With Zorko setting the tone for intensity, the Dockers reply was undisciplined.

Their heads weren’t in the game.

The Dockers gave up two of those six goals courtesy of 50m penalties from players being caught in the protective area.

They also gave away a couple of free kicks down the ground after late bumps.

Zac Bailey blew the quarter-time margin out to 27 points when he tackled Nathan Wilson in the goal square in a moment the Dockers defender would rather forget – but will be reminded of all week when he turns on a footy show on TV.

The Lions didn’t stop there though, controlling more of the play in the second term than they did the first.

Daniher slotted through a long shot for goal after the siren to mark the half-time break to take Brisbane to one-point shy of its best opening half for the season – and a 45-point lead.

The Dockers haven’t played finals since 2015 and now face an uphill battle to break their drought this season. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Dockers rocked

Despite starting the round in eighth spot, Fremantle showed that it is still a bit behind the top sides in the competition.

Coach Justin Longmuir is not trying to hide from the fact either.

The Dockers’ 64-point loss to Brisbane at Optus Stadium on Sunday took their record against sides in the eight at the end of Round 21 to 2-8.

They beat Greater Western Sydney by 31 points in Round 2 and the Sydney Swans by two points in Round 10. Both games were in Perth.

But the eight losses to the other sides in the eight have been by an average of 44 points; the worst a 69-point flogging at the hands of Geelong in Round 18.

“That’s been a bit of a theme against the better side – we’ve got a level at the moment that we can play at, and once teams bring more than that, we can’t absorb that and can’t play our way,” Longmuir said.

“And we bring pressure on ourselves by not doing the basics well enough.

“There’s times when we’re out and we miss easy handballs or miss easy kicks. Or don’t tidy up our mistakes in D 50m and cost ourselves easy goals.

“The tackle numbers (71-35 against the Lions) are disappointing, but there’s a lot that goes into that and they showed us up in all those areas today.

“I thought we felt (the Lions) pressure early on. All of a sudden you’re behind on the scoreboard and you’re chasing the game, and that adds more pressure to it.

“Because it’s scoreboard pressure, you’re up against a good side that’s bringing a real physical heat, and then you’ve got perceived pressure as well.”

The Dockers dropped to 12th on the ladder after the loss to Brisbane, with two games remaining, and face an uphill battle to qualify for September action.

Longmuir said that learning lessons from these losses is crucial.

He said that his players need to set their standards a lot higher than they currently are before they can start mixing it with team in the top four, or thereabouts.

“Making sure we prepare really well… I think sometimes as a player you read all the good press, you get all the pats on the back after a good effort last week,” he said.

“It doesn’t take much of a lowering of preparation for you to get whacked in this game, especially when you come up against good sides. We got a lesson today.”

Getting a valuable lesson against the Lions was Dockers star midfielder Andrew Brayshaw.

The youngster copped a tag from Jarrod Berry. After being kept to just five touches in the opening term, he still finished with 25 possessions – and was far from the Dockers’ worst.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan celebrated Berry’s performance, ensuring Brayshaw was under pressure every time he got the ball – keeping his score involvement down to two, well below his season’s average of eight.

Longmuir said it was something Brayshaw had to learn to cope with.

“Absolutely. And as you step up the rungs of being an elite AFL player that’s what you’ve got to deal with and learn from and embrace, and find avenues to improve your game and get better,” he said.

“I think he was one who tried his guts out all day and he’ll learn from that.

“It’s not the first time this year he’s had to work through a tag or fight through that physicality.

“I thought he handled it well. I think he’s one player that does relish the challenge and got better as the game went on.

“That’s what you get sometimes against the better sides and we need to learn from that.

“He’ll get better from it.”

DOCKERS 2.1 3.3 6.3 8.6 54

LIONS 6.4 10.6 14.8 18.10 118

ELBOROUGH’S BEST Dockers: Serong, Mundy, Cerra, Darcy, Colyer, Young. Lions: Zorko, Lyons, McCluggage, J Berry, Bailey, McStay.

GOALS Dockers: Colyer 3; Darcy, Meek, Taberner, Treacy, Henry. Lions: Daniher 4; McCarthy 3; Cameron 2, Bailey 2, McInerney 2, McStay 2, Cockatoo 2; Zorko.

INJURIES Dockers: Wilson (leg) replaced by Bewley. Lions: Robinson (leg), replaced by T Berry; Payne (knee soreness) replaced in selected side by Coleman.

UMPIRES Haussen, Margetts, Brown.

VENUE Optus Stadium

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

BRAD ELBOROUGH’S VOTES

3 Zorko (Lions)

2 Lyons (Lions)

1 Serong (Dockers)