Season 2016 - Brisbane

What are they like off - field? Is it true that some of their preparation was done in a shipping container?

Their midfield seems good. The individuals play well, but as HAP says, they are yet to actually perform well as a group even though they’ve had a few handful of games with their ‘best midfield lineup’. There are reasons for it (Rockliff and Hanley were injured much of last year), their coaching has been pretty terrible and their forward line targets have been midgets. The’ve done well considering they lost Redden, Aish (never really showed potential) and Looney to replace them with Tom Bell, Bastinac, Keays and Mathieson.
They still have rubbish forwards and backs, but they’ve finally got genuine talent to look forward to develop over the next three years or so with Hipwood and Schache and more importantly, they are likely to stick around at the club past their first season. But in the meantime Merrett, Clarke, Walker and McStay will have to do their best to remain competitive.

Usually a team down the bottom would stockpile draft picks and eventually come good, but while Brisbane have lost those draftees (and not gotten good value), I’m not even sure they made the right draft choices and their poor development has caused the players to pretty much waste two or three years on a list. Crisp and Yeo both performed well as soon as they got to other clubs. The rest (Polec, Longer, etc.) are still developing.

Leppitsch should have already been sacked by now. He’s had a tough job, but he hasn’t really sold any hope. Players continually leave and their game style isn’t evident at all. It is sad, but Voss got more out of the list he had (even though he traded poorly) than Leppitsch has.

I can only see them beating Carlton and maybe Gold Coast due to their ‘rivalry’. I’m sure they’ll find another win or two somewhere else by surprise though. Regardless of whether Leppitsch is re-seigned or not, he should be gone by mid season. They play 5 of last years top 8 in the first 10 rounds and a few games are against teams who should be challenging for the 8 (Port, Geelong and Collingwood). If they aren’t competitive in half of those games, then he should be gone.

Carlton and Brisbane are the standout worst teams in the comp. We aren’t far from them, but we have far more developed pieces in the backline and forward line that’ll cause Brisbane problems even if their midfield gets on top of ours.

Their biggest issue isn’t talent, it is getting them to stay

Rockliff missed 6 or 7, not most of the year.

They’re going nowhere if they’ve retained Merrett.

Rockliff missed 6 or 7, not most of the year.

6

There was 2 (maybe 3) games where he got injured in first 2 minutes as well.

Hmmm…
My mistake. I seemed to recall Rockliff being put on the LTI for the weird back injury he got in round 1 yet apparently he returned within a month. Must have missed him during that time (even the game he played against us at Etihad).
I really didn’t notice him until he returned after the mid season bye.

Oddly enough…
I do recall him being off with the concussion rule against Gold Coast when the big defender (his name escapes me) got reported for a standard bump.

Hmmm.... My mistake. I seemed to recall Rockliff being put on the LTI for the weird back injury he got in round 1 yet apparently he returned within a month. Must have missed him during that time (even the game he played against us at Etihad). I really didn't notice him until he returned after the mid season bye.

Oddly enough…
I do recall him being off with the concussion rule against Gold Coast when the big defender (his name escapes me) got reported for a standard bump.

yeah, they said he was going to miss heaps of the season but only missed a few

was quite odd

Hmmm.... My mistake. I seemed to recall Rockliff being put on the LTI for the weird back injury he got in round 1 yet apparently he returned within a month. Must have missed him during that time (even the game he played against us at Etihad). I really didn't notice him until he returned after the mid season bye.

Oddly enough…
I do recall him being off with the concussion rule against Gold Coast when the big defender (his name escapes me) got reported for a standard bump.

Steven May
The guy Campbell “hard man” Brown clocked on footy trip

who knows what to believe.

Good to see that the Lions are paying out his full contract. I hope his career goes well for him.

Justin Clarke forced into early retirement due to ongoing effects of concussion

THE AFL career of Brisbane defender Justin Clarke is over. Now the 22-year-old will now focus his energies on making international air travel faster and safer.

An emotional Clarke on Thursday announced his retirement due to the “debilitating’’ effects of a concussion suffered at training in January.

A series of specialists told Clarke, who is still yet to return to full function, he faced permanent brain damage if he copped another head knock.

Painful headaches, significant memory loss and the inability to do any form of exercise still hamper the young South Australian.

Clarke is studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Queensland and hopes to one day work with leading aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus to make air travel more efficient.

He described his bright career prospects as the “silver lining’’ to retiring after only 56 senior games since making his AFL debut in 2013.

Clarke said he was still devastated to walk away from the game and he broke down several times as he told his teammates of his decision.

“I’ve gone through a box of tissues and got it all out,’’ Clarke said.

“I guess the finality of it got to me.

“The fact that I’m not going to be able to play with the boys and experience that comradeship is not something that a 22-year-old wants to do.’’

Clarke has been told he should return to full mental function but he has no memory of the three weeks after the training mishap when his forehead hit a teammate’s knee at high speed.

It was on his way to university recently that the impact of the head knock really hit home.

“I was on my way to the green bridge to walk over to uni and I completely forgot the route that I was going to take,’’ he said.

“It takes me through the Gabba area, and I should know where I was going — what I was going to do, the roads I was going to take — and that’s the type of thing I’ve always been good with.

“I found myself at an intersection and I had no idea where to go. That scared me a lot. I didn’t like that feeling.

“I’m probably fortunate in the respect that I can’t remember the first three weeks around that injury. If I was able to, it would be even scarier.

“I was getting debilitating headaches, I couldn’t think straight, I could barely remember anything, I couldn’t exercise enough to walk down the stairs. I’d feel garbage every time I left the house.’’

Clarke paid tribute to the Lions for their health-first approach throughout the process and told his teammates that he once knocked backed a richer offer from West Coast because he loved the club.

He said in playing for Brisbane made him feel like he belonged to something for the first time in his life and he had enjoyed driving into the Gabba every day.

Brisbane will pay out Clarke’s full contract.

The Lions have lost veterans Jonathan Brown and Matt Maguire to the ongoing effects of multiple concussions in recent years.

How awful for the kid. I hope his studies take him where he wants to go.

Probably the biggest fear in contact sports apart from spinal injury of course but there is a sneaking suspicion that head injury is much more common and can be insidious

Probably the biggest fear in contact sports apart from spinal injury of course but there is a sneaking suspicion that head injury is much more common and can be insidious

I’d say some people are also more suseptible to brain trauma than others

How awful for the kid. I hope his studies take him where he wants to go.
I hope his studies take me to where I want to go. Only faster.
Probably the biggest fear in contact sports apart from spinal injury of course but there is a sneaking suspicion that head injury is much more common and can be insidious

I’d say some people are also more suseptible to brain trauma than others

That explains Slobbo then

I don’t understand how Leppitsch isn’t under any pressure.
Well aside from the fact that no-one up here in QLD gives a toss about the AFL, so most wouldn’t even know how ■■■■ the Lions are.

Leppitsch has done a Buckley and made his club worse every year than they were under the previous coach. That’s a pretty amazing achievement when the previous coach was crazy Vossy.

2013 under Voss = 10 wins
2014 under Leppitsch = 7 wins
2015 under Leppitsch = 4 wins
2016 = 1 win so far and not looking much chance of getting to 4 I don’t think.

Sounds like Beams might be out for the season, which doesn’t help.

Leppitsch is hiding being the excuse of being young, but their midfield isn’t young. They should be doing much better than they are.
The only hope for the Lions is attract a big name coach so that the players are more likely to stay and there is a bit more interest in the media.

Not sure who though…Bomber is probably the only one that fits that story, unless the AFL have more money to give Roos (the Lions wanted him when he took the Melbourne gig).

I don't understand how Leppitsch isn't under any pressure. Well aside from the fact that no-one up here in QLD gives a toss about the AFL, so most wouldn't even know how ■■■■ the Lions are.

Leppitsch has done a Buckley and made his club worse every year than they were under the previous coach. That’s a pretty amazing achievement when the previous coach was crazy Vossy.

2013 under Voss = 10 wins
2014 under Leppitsch = 7 wins
2015 under Leppitsch = 4 wins
2016 = 1 win so far and not looking much chance of getting to 4 I don’t think.

Sounds like Beams might be out for the season, which doesn’t help.

Leppitsch is hiding being the excuse of being young, but their midfield isn’t young. They should be doing much better than they are.
The only hope for the Lions is attract a big name coach so that the players are more likely to stay and there is a bit more interest in the media.

Not sure who though…Bomber is probably the only one that fits that story, unless the AFL have more money to give Roos (the Lions wanted him when he took the Melbourne gig).

He did inherit an absolute dog of a list because of Crazy Voss then before he was even installed as coach half the young guys drafted wanted out and left. He is a crap caoch but he was handed a bad situation.

Why would anyone hire a Richmond assistant?

It’s like hiring Skipworth as a senior coach.