Lessons learned: Talent beats gallant, as Lions overpower feisty Tigers outfit
Good teams know when to put the foot down, and that’s exactly what the Brisbane Lions did with a powerful third quarter buoying them past an admirable Richmond outfit at Ninja Stadium in Tasmania on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers looked (quite convincingly) like the better side through the first half, but Brisbane superstars Will Ashcroft and Lachie Neale dropped the hammer in the third quarter to push the Lions to a much needed 12.8 (80) to 17.13 (115) victory.
This was a classic case of, as my headline states, talent beating gallant.
Richmond brought pressure, intensity, and a desire to chase and defend all day long. Brisbane brought Will Ashcroft.
Sometimes, you can be as valiant and persistent as possible, and you just get rolled by bloody good players.
That was the case for the Tigers today. You can’t fault their effort, and despite the fact they didn’t win the game, I think it’s fair to say this was their best showing all season (especially considering the belting the Swans gave them before their bye round).
But too often their hard work went unrewarded, with some horror misses in front of goal and some poor decision-making leaving them shortchanged after many strong passages of play.
Brisbane, on the other hand, seemed to be the complete opposite. They were able to kick goals out of their backside, and when they finally did decide to wake up and get into the game, it was all over red rover.
Richmond were certainly impressive in the first half, though, as they set the tone at the centre bounce (well, it’s not a bounce anymore, but whatever).
Spurred on by senior players Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper, the Tigers won nine of the total 13 centre clearances in the opening two quarters.
Their work, along with Dion Prestia, allowed others like Steely Green and Seth Campbell to get more involved, while Maurice Rioli provided plenty of his trademark pressure.
Altogether they combined to give forward Jasper Alger (four goals on the day) and Liam Fawcett (two) plenty of chances to hit the scoreboard.
Still, Brisbane did enough to hang tight, and by the third term, class shone out. The Lions piled on seven goals to three in the period, and from there they put it to bed early in the fourth.
But that’s enough boring recount, let’s get into the juicier stuff, shall we?
Standout performances
Will Ashcroft was at his best in this one. He finished the day with a whopping 38 disposals and two goals to his name, both of which came in the third quarter blitz for the Lions.
It was a consistent, four-quarter effort from the two-time Norm Smith medallist, and more importantly he was good in the first half when plenty of his teammates were not.
His efforts went a long way to keeping Brisbane in the contest when Richmond had control, and he stepped it up even more when the game needed to be won.
Lachie Neale wasn’t far behind with 28 touches (ten in the third) and a goal of his own, while Darcy Wilmot reeled in nine marks to go with his 26 disposals.
Taranto led the way for the Tigers, but unlike his Brisbane counterparts, he found it hard to get involved in the second half.
After amassing 20 disposals and two goals in the first half, Taranto managed just nine for the remainder of the match.
Jasper Alger collected an impressive four-goal haul, and Dion Prestia’s 27 disposals and seven clearances had an impact.
A tale of two halves
Only three points separated these teams at half time, but I reckon their two head coaches would have been experiencing very different emotions.
Brisbane held a slim lead at the main break, but I’ll bet Chris Fagan must have felt like they were down by five goals. Because, in all honesty, if Brisbane were playing a decent side, they absolutely would have been getting flogged.
Their effort was low, they were going through the motions, and the only thing keeping them in the game was the fact that Richmond didn’t capitalise.
Adam Yze, however, must have been rapt with what he was seeing from his boys.
In a game where they were largely tipped to be wiped off the park from the get-go, Richmond were defending hard, dominating territory, and in all reality should have been holding a significant lead at the main break.
I suspect it was Fagan who was a little (or perhaps a lot) more vocal to his troops at half time, though, as they came out spitting fire in the third.
Players who hadn’t given much till halftime like Neale, Cam Rayner and Josh Dunkley all got more involved, and a whipping in the centre clearances paved the way for Brisbane to take control.
Darcy Wilmot is filling a Zorko-sized hole
The absence of Dayne Zorko was always going to hurt the Lions with their star rebounding defender currently sidelined with a calf injury.
The 37-year-old was in great form earlier in the season, and after he went down, it wasn’t exactly clear to see who was going to step up in his stead.
But while it may have been unclear to us as a football public, it appears Darcy Wilmot had a firm idea of who was going to take the reins down back.
The 22-year-old dashing defender has been outstanding since his former skipper’s injury, and he continued on his merry way today with 26 disposals and nine marks.
How nice it is for the Lions knowing one of their favourite sons will soon depart with a ready-made successor just about to hit his prime.
Mid-season draft gold for Richmond
Kai Annand was a plumber just a few weeks ago, and today he took about 30 seconds to show he’s an AFL footballer.
After being selected by the Tigers in the mid-season draft following a standout year for Geelong in the VFL, the 200cm defender got involved early and early, and he never looked out of place.
He finished the day with 14 disposals and a couple marks, but more importantly, he looked willing to take on big defensive assignments and contested the ball well in the air against
Brisbane’s key forwards.
Key defenders don’t grow on trees, and Richmond were in desperate need of one, so no doubt Adam Yze and the Tiger faithful was bloody rapt with this bloke’s effort today.
How good is Logan Morris going to be?
At one point today, the commentary crew found themselves ranking who would have a better career out of Logan Morris, Aaron Cadman, and Nate Caddy. They landed on that exact order, by the way.
Now, my immediate reaction was to be offended they didn’t mention my guy Josh Treacy, but after my initial shock I started to think: Just how good is Morris going to be?
I do think there’s something to be said for the fact that he is very much the main target in a team with a midfield very capable of getting him the footy. It definitely helps when Will Ashcroft and Lachie Neale are looking for you at every opportunity, but Morris has earned that privilege.
He takes big grabs, he’s a big presence, and most importantly he kicks big goals (and plenty of them).
He’s kicked 112 goals through his first 58 games. Those are numbers that stack up with the all-time greats.
Oh yeah, and not to mention he’s won two flags already…
I’m not sure who we’ll be comparing him to as time drags on, but he’s given himself the start you need to be considered among the best of them.
Okay, I’m nearly done, so here are some quick ones to finish us off:
- Jonty Faull is the high draft pick, but without him present today I thought Liam Fawcett and Jasper Alger showed plenty of promise as a forward duo. The Tigers might have something in these blokes.
- Missed opportunities are always bad, but Seth Campbell had a particularly unforgivable one when he burned about four teammates to take a ping from 50m out on the run. The kick went out on the full, and he had about 30m of grass in front of him!
- Eric Hipwood returned in this one. He was largely pretty quiet, but it’s a big step forward for Brisbane’s premiership defence.
- Darcy Gardner deserves a shoutout after racking up 20 disposals and 14 marks. As does Conor McKenna for his 18 touches and two goals.
Alright, that’s enough from me, seeya!
