The Lions’ 23 intercept marks against North Melbourne proved to be a critical difference in their win on Saturday night at the Gabba. The team recorded their highest amount this year and were well above the AFL average of 16.

Backline Coach Murray Davis told lions.com.au this feat came down to strong forward pressure.

 “It comes back to our pressure up the field and our positioning behind the ball,” he said.

“We took 23 intercept marks for the game and 20 of those came from the defenders.”

Vice- Captain Harris Andrews took five; in his third game for the Club Marcus Adams took four, as did Luke Hodge and Darcy Gardiner took three.

“It was nice to see Marcus Adams take some really important one-on-one marks for us,” Davis said.

One of the most important intercept marks was taken by Daniel Rich outside the Lions’ 50.

“Their forwards got quite high up the ground, so Daniel was really just following his opponent,” Davis said.

“It was a big one-on-one mark and then an even bigger moment to go back and slot the goal.

“Just really pleased for Daniel, it was terrific.”

Davis has worked with Rich for the past eight seasons at the Lions and is ecstatic to see him enjoying some success on field after a tough few years.

 “When you work so closely with someone, you want to see all their hard work rewarded and that’s what we were able to do with Daniel and all the boys on Saturday night,” he said.