The Brisbane Lions hung tough against the Richmond Tigers on Sunday despite being dominated in numerous aspects of the game.

Richmond enjoyed 28 more inside 50s than the Lions, and won the centre clearance battle 20-4. 

Football Strategy Coach Danny Daly highlighted the centre bounce and stoppages as areas the Lions struggled in.

“For the most part of the game I thought we were quite good and competitive against Richmond,” Daly said.

“Unfortunately, we probably let ourselves down in centre bounces, around the stoppages and converting inside 50 in the first quarter, which ultimately we paid the price for.

“Richmond had 67 inside 50s and we had 39 which was a big differential and really hurt us.”

A highlight of the day for Daly was the exceptional job the Lions defence did considering the amount of pressure they were under.

“Our defenders did an outstanding job considering the ball went inside 50 so many times,” Daly said.

“Richmond scored at 44% which is well below AFL average.”

“Harris Andrews and Dan McStay did a great job in the air against Riewoldt and Nankervis, and Alex Witherden won the Rising Star which is great for the club.

“I think they did an outstanding job and they were the highlight of the day.”

Improving on contested ball will be a major focus this week heading into Sunday’s match against Richmond.

“Carlton are very much a good contested ball side and we got beaten quite easily in contested ball on the weekend,” Daly said.

“This week at training we will train a lot on our contested ball situations and I think that will be the area that will dictate the game on the weekend.”

Daly responded to two fan questions this week, reflecting on the low centre clearance count against Richmond and expanding on what the team is working on to boost inside 50 numbers.

“It’s one area of our game that we’ve improved out of sight. Dale Tapping has come in and done a great job with our midfield group,” Daly said.

“In a game of footy you get beaten at times, so it’s a good reflection to go back and get our midfielders to work hard and play their roles at stoppages. I’m sure we will turn it around this week.”

“Winning the centre bounce will help,” Daly said.

“If we can get our centre bounce right on the weekend that will help us get the numbers up.

“Our skill execution and decision making wasn’t great against Richmond.

“We will do some work on our decision making and skill execution this week, and hopefully that on top of our centre bounce clearance wins, will get us up to around the 50 mark [for inside 50s].”

Jed Adcock will be on the Coaches Wrap next week. If you’ve got a question you would like answered, head over to our Twitter next Monday night at 7.30pm and use the hashtag #AskLionsCoach.