The Brisbane Lions Reserves suffered their biggest defeat of the season on Saturday, falling to the ladder-leading UWS Giants by 127 points at Spotless Stadium in Sydney.

The Lions were outgunned from the start, and simply had no answers for a Giants side that boasted nine first-round draft selections and considerable AFL experience.

“They pretty much beat us in every aspect of the game – clearances, contested possessions, uncontested possessions, tackles…you name it. There was no area where we got on top at all, hence the scoreline,” Reserves Coach Leigh Harding told lions.com.au.

“We couldn’t get the game on our term at all.”

The Lions weren’t helped by the fact that only 13 listed players were available to play, with the remaining nine positions filled by top-ups.

And with most of the regular Academy top-up players tied up with State U18 duties in Melbourne, the Club was forced to find some new faces.

To make matters worse, experienced pair Brent Moloney and Matthew Leuenberger both only played a half, while rookie ruckman Archie Smith was concussed early in the third term.

“Only a couple of the top-ups had played with us before, so we were always going to be up against it in terms of personnel,” Harding said.

“Brent Moloney and Leuey were a bit sore so only played a half, and Archie (Smith) was knocked out just after half time.

“So we were down to one rotation after half time, which meant the boys played a lot of big minutes.

“To their credit, the Giants only kicked 10 goals to two in the second half, which was a better result than the first half. So given the circumstances, we probably fought the game out pretty well in the second half.”

Please find below Leigh Harding’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions who played against the UWS Giants last Saturday.
 

Brent Moloney

Brent played despite struggling a bit with his fitness during the week. From the start you could tell he didn’t look himself – he was a bit tight in his legs. He wasn’t covering the ground as he usually would, so we decided to pull him at half time as a precaution.

Jack Crisp

It was a pretty quiet day for Jack, who only had 14 touches. But he kicked a good goal, laid 10 tackles, and did some really good defensive things like putting on pressure. He just didn’t get the sort of offensive ball that he has in the past few weeks.

Nick Robertson

Robbo played on-ball, and a bit across half-back. Had 20-odd touches, but still needs to be more effective with his disposals. He gave the ball back to the opposition at times, so just needs to be a bit more composed.

Jordan Lisle

Jordan started up forward, but then we had to send him back to stem the flow a little bit. Then, when Moloney, Leuey and Archie went off, we kept Jordy down back. In the end, he probably only spent one and a half quarters forward, and that’s where we would have preferred him to be. But due to the circumstances, we needed his height down back. He had 25 disposals across half-back, and read the ball well.

Matthew Leuenberger

Leuey felt pretty good during the week, but got a bit tight in the legs – just a case of second-up syndrome. We decided that it wasn’t worth the risk to push him, so took him off at half time. He was OK in the first half, with 17 hitouts and five tackles. He is still a bit restricted, but battled on well.

Andrew Raines

Rainsey played on the wing, and got a lot of the ball, He probably didn’t put enough pressure on though. Offensively he can certainly get the ball, it’s just a matter of whether he can combine that with getting more involved in tackles and stay in the game for longer. He plays a critical role in teaching the young guys as well.

Jonathan Freeman

Jono played forward again. He kicked two points in the first quarter, before getting a goal late in the final term. When Lisle went back, we had a really inexperienced forward line, and Jono was our only listed player up there. I thought his leadership and set-up was pretty good. There was obviously a lack of opportunities, which explains why he only had a handful of touches. He could have easily kicked three goals, which would have been a much better game.

Jackson Paine

Painey played back, and copped a really heavy hit in first contest. Actually, he was on the receiving end of three really good hits. He had a really sore hand, but pushed on and showed character. Probably didn’t defend as well as he has, but we’re still keen to see how he develops as a defender. The Giants had a really tall forward line, so he was given away plenty of height.

Nick Hayes

He goes under the radar a bit, but finished with 23 touches. He started really well, and got us going a little bit early. As the game wore on, he was shifted between defence and the midfield, and probably faded due to the fact he was forced to play big minutes. Still a solid game from Nick.

Archie Smith

Archie didn’t get his hands on it enough as a ruckman when he was on, he only had 4-5 hitouts in the first half. He was concussed 10 minutes into third quarter. We lost Leuey and Smith very close together, which left us quite short. Archie spend a bit more time forward, and his positioning really improved. He just needs to get back to jumping at the ball and giving our mids a chance.

Jordon Bourke

Bourkey played on Tom Boyd and was one of our better players. He took a couple of really courageous marks going back into packs. He kept Boyd to two goals, and one of those was probably the result of our sloppy defending. We were pretty pleased with Bourkey, particularly considering the backline was under an enormous amount of pressure..

Zac O’Brien

He played through the midfield as usual and ad plenty of the ball. I think he finished with 30+ touches. He covered the ground well, but just needs to give more respect to his direct opponent. We know he’ll get his hands on the ball, but he also needs to limit other mids possessions. He also had a big responsibility in helping drive the midfield.

Sam Michael

Sam started back and was one of our better players on the same day he celebrated his 21st birthday. He covers a lot of territory, his GPS data showed he covered 16km. He had very high game time with Leuey and Smith off the field. We swung forward at times to have a spell. He was up against some good forwards, and did some good work in the ruck.