Time for Lions, Suns to make us proud

IT IS time for the Lions and Suns to stick a flag in the sand for Queensland footy.

IT IS time for the Lions and Suns to stick a flag in the sand for Queensland footy.

The two clubs have never won on the same day and on Saturday the fans are entitled to have reasonable hope that can be rectified.

Saturday is the 12-month anniversary of the Suns' last win - against Richmond at Cazaly's Stadium in round 16. They need another win badly.

It also starts a five-week period where both sides are more than capable of winning more than they lose to ensure 2012 has been a success.

The bookies aren't so confident, with neither the Lions nor the Suns listed as favourites over St Kilda and Richmond.

But both should be.

Yes, we are putting a bit of expectation on both clubs, but surely no more than they have placed on themselves.

If either side is not looking at this weekend as a game they should be winning they should not be in the elite competition.

Lions vice-captain Jed Adcock told The Courier-Mail on Sunday his side believed it possessed the weapons to match the AFL's top sides and went to Sydney legitimately confident of a win in round 15.

For that statement to carry any credence, the Lions need to start regularly knocking over sides above them on the ladder.

Beating up on the Suns, Giants, Demons and even the Bulldogs, who have clearly lost their bark, is really like eating junk food - it gives a brief high but it does no long-term good.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that three games would define the Lions' season - St Kilda, Carlton and Richmond.

They play all three in the next five weeks, plus the Suns and West Coast, two sides they have already beaten.

The bookies rank Richmond as $1.14 favourites to beat the Suns, something that should offend Guy McKenna and his men. Gold Coast are winless and plenty of times this year they have also been hapless.

However they knocked over the Tigers last time in Cairns and gave a good account of themselves against the Cats last Sunday.

McKenna repeatedly says he thinks the Suns' best footy is good enough to beat anyone and he is optimistic this year does not have to be a write-off.

They leave Queensland only once in the next five weeks to play Melbourne at the MCG. In that time they meet the Lions and the Tigers, teams they beat last year, and GWS.

The two-month Origin rugby league festival is over and it is time to remind the sporting public Queensland has a few other football sides.