Season 2019 - Brisbane

Football Discussion Non Essendon Stuff
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Brisbane

Coach – Chris Fagan

2018 –

Points For – 11th
Points Against – 15th

Top 5 Best and Fairest

  1. Dayne Zorko
  2. Dayne Beams
  3. Stef Martin
  4. Darcy Gardiner
  5. Harris Andrews

2018 Rising Star Noms

Alex Witherden (Round 9)
Cam Rayner (Round 15)

Ins – Marcus Adams, Lincoln McCarthy, Lachie Neale, Ely Smith, Tom Berry, Tom Joyce, Noah Answeth, Connor McFadyen

Outs – Jake Barrett, Claye Beams, Dayne Beams, Tom Bell, Rohan Bewick, Jack Frost, Liam Dawson, Dian Hanley, Sam mayes, Marco Paparone

My Prediction

A lot of hype around the Lions and the way they look to have turned themselves around on the field. Losing Beams was a massive blow but bringing in Lachie Neale more than balances that out. I am not a hundred percent their list and results match the hype coming out of Brisbane. They are the current poster child for how to change the culture of your club and despite the fact it seems to be working, I am a little sceptical.

Adams is a good pick up for their backline. I rate him as a player, not to mention one of the best sets of guns in the AFL. He hold a player pretty well and seemed to be becoming more confident in leaving them when he needed to. Andrews is a star and they get good run and ball use from Witherden and Rich. Hodge is in the back pocket, pointing and directing, leading and teaching whilst probably being a defensive liability. I suspect the aim is to ease him out during the year and for them to now need him anymore. All in all, the back line should improve this year.

They are still lacking a little depth in the midfield but they have some genuine A grade talent running around whilst they wait for the rest to happen. Zorko is one of my favourite players to watch unless he is being tagged in which case he is of little use. Neale will partner with Zorko and their work inside will free up the runners. McCluggage looked the part last year and expect natural improvement to bring him towards the elite and then you have Berry on top as a pretty good top four midfielders. After that, it gets a little rough and I think Neale for Beams is a loss this year and a win every year after. A solid midfield.

I have left Rayner on the half forward line but would expect he starts to run through the middle a little more this year. He showed his talent last year and despite not winning the Rising Star, you can see he is probably the player you would want from last year’s draft pool. Hipwood also continues to improve and can see why they look to be building their forward line around him. McStay is the player they hoped Schache would replace but gives them a goal a game and they get a good amount of goals from their runners with Zorko and Taylor chipping in. Charlie Cameron is a freak and a full season from him next year would go a long way to improving the team.

The rucks are an injury away from some sort of disaster with Stef Martin being very close to being their most important player. They have tried to bring McInerny along for the ride but he is still raw. Josh Walker is a bak up ruck but finally seemed to find his niche in the backline last year and looked a player. They need Martin to stay fit. I don’t know if Fagan can coach, he seems to be a team manager who surrounds himself with the right people. I think that is the way we are heading anyway and it is working.

Brisbane should improve this year. They have a lot of things they still need to improve on but I think they should win 7-8 games next year. They certainly don’t look like a top eight team yet but are tracking towards becoming one over the next couple of years. I think this year, a finish of around 11th to 13th is around the mark.

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Their midfield needs to stand up regularly if they are to continue to improve. The key position planks are still developing so they will be will up and down a bit. However I expect them to push up towards 6-8 wins this year. Also I think beating them at the Gabba will be harder than it has been for for last 10 years.

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I’d be looking forward to the season if I was a Brisbane supporter. I think they have reason to believe they are heading in the right direction.

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I think If they got Neale and kept Beams they would have snuck in to the 8.
Now they will be outside the 8, but lots of kids to be excited about. 10-14th

Best 22
B: Darcy Gardiner, Harris Andrews, Luke Hodge.
HB: Daniel Rich, Marcus Adams, Alex Witherden.
C: Tom Cutler, Dayne Zorko ©, Hugh McCluggage.
HF: Lewis Taylor, Eric Hipwood, Cameron Rayner.
F: Charlie Cameron, Daniel McStay, Oscar McInerney.
R: Stefan Martin, Lachie Neale , Jarrod Berry
Int: Lincoln McCarthy , Mitch Robinson, Allen Christensen, Nick Robertson
EMG: Jarrod Lyons, Rhys Mathieson, Cedric Cox

If get injuries depth will be tested,
They have 17 players with less than 10 games played thats 17/47 36% of the list.
12 players yet to play a game. 25% of the list.

Jarrod Lyons probably gets selected in the first 22. Im just not sure given he has been moved on from 2 other clubs.
If your a Lions fan would be excited about Harris Andrews, Eric Hipwood, J Berry, McLuggage , Rayner, Witherden thats a pretty good crop of youngsters if they can keep them together.

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Behind our fellas, Brisbane would be the next club that play very exciting footy. theyll be a scary good team soon and would be good to see an elite AFL outfit in QLD again. most looking forward to seeing Rayner next year. hes going to be an absolute star.

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Reckon they’ll sneak into the 8 this year, or just miss like we did last season.

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Yeah I reckon they are going to make a big jump this year to 10 wins or so.

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I agree that the hype is a bit premature. Losing Beams is a big loss even with gaining Neale so I think they will be a better side with natural development but don’t believe they will challenge the 8. They have a very tough draw with their 1st 7 home games being Eagles, Power, Pies, Swans, Crows, Hawks & Dees. At this stage you couldn’t see them starting favourite in any of those games so it could easily be a disappointing year results wise that

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yeah but the whole team might lift on account that the biggest t0sser in the locker room is gone…

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But Rockliff left over a year ago

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and then someone had to take the mantle…

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I assume you are referring to Beams but I’ve never really bought into that type of hearsay about players behind closed doors. He was their captain so I’m more inclined to believe he had some reasonable level of respect from the players. They didn’t want him to leave. I was the same when there was rumours about Rockliff - I don’t factor it into my ratings of the player.

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I factored it into Rockliff when it became apparent that it was the reason that Brisbane didn’t want to keep their captain and one of their best players and that he had very little interest from other clubs. It is all heresay to some extent, however off field matters can have a big bearing on peoples football.

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Their midfield is an issue, as in there is a serious lack of depth. If Zorko goes down with an injury there is no one to replace him of anywhere near similar quality.

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Lachlan Neale

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That’s like saying if Shiel, Smith or Heppell go down there’s no one to replace them.
As in, no ■■■■ if one of your frontline midfielders goes down their replacement won’t be as good.

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They are a team on the rise for mine. Have some very good young players that need a few more pre seasons under their belt.

I think they may push a lot of teams this year. Could get 8-10 wins.

Fagan seems to be doing a good job up there.

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Whoosh. As in we have more depth.

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Well they could slot Hodge into the midfield if they were desperate.

Zorko will get tagged most weeks anyway, so will need to play well without his input.

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Hipwood is going to be some player.

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