GWS have put together a good patch of form in 2024, with their only loss coming at the hands of Carlton last week in a banger of a match. They look set to really give things a shake in September. On the other end of the scale, Brisbane have gone from playing in a Grand Final to sitting in twelfth position, with their only wins coming over Melbourne and North Melbourne.
The Lions entered the match hoping to get their season back on track, but they left disappointed as their team was ruthlessly shredded by a Giants attack that out-worked and out-played them—and if we’re being honest, out-coached them too.
The build up
GWS had a fair bit to do during the week, with Greene and Hogan having to attend tribunal appeals in order to try and play against the Lions. While Hogan was cleared, Greene sits out this match. Plenty has been said about Toby Greene’s suspension, and no doubt plenty more will be said before the season is out. For what it’s worth, going for the ball and covering up for contact is something that I think every player should do. If it costs you a week under the current interpretation, so be it. If every player braced before contact and looked after themselves by protecting their own head, we’d see less head knocks overall.
But that’s a whole other article.
Greene’s suspension made room for young Darcy Jones to make his debut. The kid was picked up in the 2022 draft at pick 21, and unfortunately suffered an ACL injury this time last year, keeping him off the track in 2023.
With All-Australian backman Sam Taylor also sidelined with a concussion, Coniglio still sidelined with a knee, and Isaac Cummings returning through the VFL, Brisbane’s forwards should have been licking their lips at the chance to take on a somewhat depleted Giants back line.
Brisbane were also dealing with some injuries though, with Oscar McInerny out due to concussion, while Doedee, Coleman and Ashcroft are all on the sidelines with knee injuries (still).
With Lyons dropped, it allowed Darcy Fort and Conor McKenna to come back into the side. While Darcy seems to be a decent cough ruck, he does lack the physicality that has become Big O’s trademark.
The start
After a brief feeling-out process, GWS hit the scoreboard by creating turnovers both in their attacking and defensive halves. The first goal was the result of an almost-too-casual mark for Callum Brown, followed soon after by a long 55m bomb off the boot of Tom Green. I for one love it when player back themselves in, and to launch a perfect drop punt that far just shows how refined his kicking action is. Perfect backspin, nice height, and went through about four metres above the ground.
Brisbane had to respond, and did so through a bit of chaos-ball that rapidly pushed them into the forward line, and gave Daniehr a chance to mark. He dropped it, but as he so often does, Charlie Cameron was in prime position to swoop, gather and snap truly for Brisbane’s first.
Darcy Jones’ first goal came shortly after, and it’s worth watching for more than just the first of what I expect will be many goals for this kid.
You can see him hanging inside the play, waiting to be the receiver once his team-mate gets the hard ball, and once Thomas does, he gives a quick handoff to a running Tom Green in the link-up role. Jones sprints hard goalward, knowing that the ball will come to him. Green then loops a handball that was perfectly weighted to fall into Jones’ path without breaking stride, and he accelerates inside 50 to kick his first major of his career.
I loved Jones’ game (more on him later) but this is all made possible by Green’s ability to gather the ball from Thomas and perfectly weight his clearing handpass so that Jones didn’t have to slow down or wait for the ball to bounce in front of him. It was a perfect NFL-style button-hook, just with a bit more air.
Cameron and Thomas traded goals, and the end of the first saw GWS in front and full of run, but Brisbane keeping them honest with their pressure and pace.
Ruck contest
I’ll be honest here; I’m a big fan of Keiran Briggs. He’s not afraid to play the big man game, and plenty of times in this match he absolutely bodied Darcy Fort, throwing him out of the contest like a sack of spuds. Some will point to a few of the more egregious ball-ups where he pretty much shoves him on his arse, but I’m here for it. Let the big boys get a bit rowdy.
Briggs did get called for ruck infringements four times, but I still gave him the nod in this contest. He and Fort attended a similar number of rucks, but Briggs got more taps, more taps to advantage, more centre and stoppage clearances, and more of the ball.
Fort did manage to get a few more tackles, and kicked a nice goal in junk-time, but I don’t think that lets him off the hook for letting Briggs give his smalls first use quite so often.
As backup, Daniher and Riccardi were there to spell the big men, and Daniher pantsed him. Not that they went head-to-head much, but Daniher’s mobility troubled Briggs a lot more than Fort did by trying to match him shoulder-to-shoulder. In fact, I’d say Daniher had more impact on this game as a ruckman than as a forward, considering he set up multiple goals for teammates by using his pace to beat Briggs to the drop of the ball on boundary throw-ins.
So that’s a win for Joe, which I guess is small consolation for a key forward that should have had a day out against a team that was fielding its second-string key backs.
The difference
Early in the second, two goals to Rayner gave Brisbane the lead, and they settled into a bit of tempo football, focusing on mark-kick-mark style of play. They were rewarded with another quick one from McCarthy, but a big bomb from Brown to respond followed by a rapid centre clearance and a sneaky handball from debutante Jones to a running O’Halloranmeant Brisbane couldn’t quite relax, even after a steadier from Lohmann to get the lead back.
Once again, GWS managed to goal through a long bomb, this time from Ricciardi. To me, this showed the difference between the teams, as Ricciardi, Greene, Perryman and Brown all showed that they were dangerous from beyond the arc. They were willing to take the long shots, and even better, able to make them count. This meant Brisbane had to expand their defensive zone to cover higher up the ground, creating more leading spaces for the full forward line. Just when Brisbane seemed to shrink their coverage slightly, GWS would get another long goal. Usually, players will put away the long shot as the game wears on, but even in the last quarter players like Brown and Perryman were still taking the shot from about 60 metres out, and nailing it.
GWS took full advantage of Brisbane’s stretched defence by kicking a total of nine unanswered goals from just before half time through to mid-way through the last quarter. Kelly’s goal on the half-time buzzer was a result of pressure put on Harris Andrews as he attempted to clear the ball from the last line of defence, but after that it was all GWS as they spread the defence and ran them ragged.
As the defence had to increase their zone, they tired quickly and their rotations couldn’t keep fresh legs for them to rebound into attack, causing more turnovers in the middle of the ground. So often in the GWS forward line, players were able to break tackles and weave into space for a shot on goal.
It’s becoming an issue for Brisbane, with fadeouts a common problem in 2024, shown by a 27-48 goal deficit for goals kicked after half-time.
Darcy Jones
Normally, I like to highlight young talent with a bit of a pump-up, because seeing how the kids develop is something that everyone can enjoy, but when a player has a debut like Jones, it deserves its own section.
For anyone unaware, Jones was drafted to GWS at the end of the first round in 2022. During the preseason he had issues with his shoulder and quads, but managed to push through to play round one in the VFL. Within the first quarter he tore his ACL and was out for the season.
Coming back from that takes a lot out of anyone, but a young lad, freshly drafted and now having to wait and see if his body will heal right is tough. Even tougher when GWS seems to be on the up, and his preferred position of small forward is held down by one of the most impactful players in the league in Toby Greene.
But, GWS showed their faith by re-signing him to a four-year deal last year while he was still recovering. The fact they locked him in for so long while on the sidelines and without playing more than a few minutes for the club makes me think they liked how he went about dealing with adversity.
It’s early days for the kid, but so far, it’s paid off handsomely.
Darcy Jones only took a few minutes to get his first touch, and he looked calm under pressure transitioning the ball through the wing. He must have felt pretty good getting a clean mark while under some pressure as his introduction to AFL level, because he kept bobbing up in open space as the game went on.
His run and awareness of his role in the structure meant he was off and running once Green collected the ball, received the looping handball at full pace, put on a burst of speed and kicked a very nice goal from about 40 out.
He seemed even more at home as the game went on, and looked comfortable on his way to a very respectable 15 touches, two tackles, four marks and hitting the scoreboard for two goals.
His work as part of the possession chan to transition from defence to attack was especially impressive, particularly the play where he managed to collect, run, bounce and deliver the ball to Bedford, who then passed to Brown and they joe-the-goosed Answerth to give Cadman his first (and only) goal for the night.
His quick clean hands, good burst of speed and intelligent positioning, he looked like a player with a hundred games under his belt. With his coloured headgear, he’s easy to keep track of too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a rising star nom from this outing.
With a solid debut behind him, will Kingsley give him a pat on the back and let him slot back in the VFL side, building some hunger in the kid, or will someone else make way for Greene when he returns? Brown had a good day with three majors and Thomas snagged a couple himself, so the axe might fall on Bedford, which would be a little disappointing considering how much forward pressure he brought.
Still, it’s a nice conundrum to have.
Next up
GWS will take on Sydney on Saturday with a top two spot awaiting the winner. We’re still in an early part of the season, but getting the points on the board early means that teams can rest players as needed to hit finals with a fit and tapered squad.
This episode of battle of the bridge should be a cracker of a match, with two star midfields backed up by All-Australian calibre players in both teams. It’s tough to pick a winner here, but I’d tip Sydney to sneak home in a hard-fought match
GWS v Sydney on Saturday
Lions v Suns on Sunday
