Lions ready to release shackles: Voss

By Michael Whiting

 

WITH his key players back in form, Michael Voss is hopeful Saturday night's win over Gold Coast will release the shackles and kick-start the Brisbane Lions' season.

The pre-season champions got their first win with a heart-stopping two-point victory over the Suns that was riddled with mistakes.

However, after losses to the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide in the opening two weeks, Voss was just relieved to coach a victory.

In the process, co-captain Jonathan Brown (five goals) and midfielders Daniel Rich (27 disposals) and Jack Redden (26) found form that had eluded them during the opening fortnight.

Voss said it was a big turnaround from the disastrous first-round loss against the Bulldogs.

"The first week when we played was so terrible, it had a chance to railroad our season, it really did," he said.

"We're still trying to find that explosive ball movement we had through our pre-season and build off a really good, rock solid defence and we haven't found that yet.

"What we did get was a number of players back in form, so we made a slight step in that direction with a hell of a lot of work to do."

Frustrated as the Suns fought back at the death, Voss felt the Lions had almost forgotten how to win.

When Pearce Hanley kicked a goal inside the final two minutes, they looked to have a match-winning eight-point lead, before a Michael Rischitelli response made for a nail-biting final minute.

Though they did everything to try and lose, the improved performance around the stoppages (clearances 46-37) pleased Voss.

"It gets our season away," he said.

"It's always hard to get that first four points on the board. Hopefully we can go to North (Melbourne) this week and let the shackles go a bit and see some of that form we saw through pre-season."