Brisbane’s star-studded midfield intent on bouncing back from ‘embarrassing’ display

A forgettable midfield display in the QClash has Brisbane desperate to respond in a positive manner against Collingwood.

Lions co-captain Lachie Neale says an “embarrassing” midfield display against the Gold Coast Suns was the “kick in the teeth” Brisbane’s on-ballers needed ahead of Saturday night’s showdown with Collingwood at the MCG.

The Lions are still licking their wounds after their 66-point weekend loss to the Suns, whose midfielders completely dominated their Brisbane counterparts that included two-time Brownlow medallist Neale, Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft, Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage.

Co-captain Lachie Neale said the Lions’ display was unacceptable. Picture: Matt Roberts/AFL Photos/Getty Images

“(It was) certainly hard to watch,” Neale said in reflecting on the Lions’ review of their performance at People First Stadium.

“More so the embarrassing clips that is not usual for us as a midfield group … we knew that was coming.

“It was a bit of a kick in the teeth. As a midfield group, they certainly lowered our colours across all four quarters. It’s not usually the way we go about it … (but) it was good to see some of that stuff.

“Sometimes you can brush over it and try to forget about it and move on, but I think at this time of year to have a performance like that wasn’t acceptable.

“We had to face the music and look at some of that stuff and learn from it and get better.

“You learn more from your losses than your wins, and when you win a few in a row, sometimes you can get a little bit comfortable and happy with how you’re going, and some things that might slip through the cracks get shown when you lose.”

The Lions had won four successive games before their weekend loss, with Neale suggesting there would be no better way to regain winning form than by beating the first-placed Magpies at the home of football.

“It’s a great time for us to play them and test ourselves against the best,” he said.

“If we can bounce back and play our best footy, it’s going to be a great game, a cracking contest.

“We look forward to hopefully producing some really good footy, and we know that Collingwood will bring that as well, so it should be a fantastic game for both sets of fans and for both clubs.”

The Gold Coast Suns celebrate after their QClash win over the Brisbane Lions. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Lions were in second spot before their game against the Suns but are now third, and depending on other results this weekend, could fall to as low as seventh if they lose to the Magpies.

However, Neale said the reigning premiers weren’t looking at the ladder.

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen week-to-week in this competition, so it’s full focus on Collingwood,” he said.

“We knew going into the season it was going to be tight. It was the same last year. We finished fifth last year, and we’re able to make a run, so we’ll try to finish as high as we can.

“We’re not caught up too much in where that is at the moment. We just want to try to win (every match) from here, and it starts with Collingwood on the weekend.

“We go into every game trying to come up with a plan to win that week, and we’ll just keep doing that, and where we end up, we probably deserve.”