The NEAFL Lions fell 34-points short of Aspley in a gallant effort to the second placed Hornets at Graham Rd last Saturday.

Read the match report here.

Please find below Coach Shane Woewodin’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions that included assistant, Leigh Harding, who played against the Hornets.

 Zac O’Brien

Best game for the season to date with Zac. A different role on the weekend, we played him more as a high forward/midfield. His compliancy in terms of his execution by hand and foot was very good. He was very good around the ball, he had 13 clearances for the day which is a great result, and ability to rack up 40 possessions. So an all round game, plus his six tackles, a complete game and certainly best on ground. Puts him in line for senior selection I believe in his ability to play another role. It was a good day for Zac.

 Jordon BourkeBourkey backed up from last week with his consistency with his performance. Defended really well, some great spoiling, a real presence for us down back and showed a great deal of leadership for us. That’s two in a row, so again he starts to put his name back up the board. Just got to keep building on his performance.
 Ryan HarwoodDifferent role for Harzy on the weekend, trying to really push him for senior selection. We played him a bit more midfield, getting him up and around the ball, running and getting some conditioning into him. Coming off his injury for three weeks, he was solid, solid without dominating but was very good with the ball in hand.
 Josh McGuinnessJoshy played wing/back on the weekend. He was solid without being very good but certainly learning those different roles for us. Has been really good development for him, good ball in hand, understanding structure so much better now, so he’s certainly adding it to his game.
 Hugh BeasleyTerrific on the weekend, showing really good consistency at the moment, playing as a key defender again, backing up week after week. Composed in the contest, good with ball in hand. Showing great leadership out there with voice and direction, particularly around a lot of younger players.
 Billy EvansGave Billy a bit of a different job last week, his first half was probably more run with Payne who is one of the best midfielders in the competition if not the best. Did a very good job, had him four possessions til quarter time, held Paine to 12 to half time. A good education for Billy playing on good midfielders, taking him to the ball, teaching him running patterns and what not. Billy showed a couple of really good things throughout the game, so hopefully he will learn a lot from that and take that forward.
 Archie SmithProbably dominated in the air in terms of ruck contests, wasn’t up against a lot in terms of ruck. His opponent got a bit of the ball particularly around the ground. Archie’s still got to work on his contested marking, he’s getting into good positions now. He’s just got to now complete the play by taking those grabs.
 Josh ClaytonPlayed more wing last week, so he’s that wing, half forward role.  A little bit better around structure, still working hard on his contested game, he’ll probably bounce back this weekend.
 Josh WattsProbably like Josh McGuinness, his RFI’s are his hits on his opponents, particularly in back 50. Played more as a third tall/defender for us on the weekend. Rebounding the ball well out of back half. Solid again without dominating.
 Matt HammelmannQuiet one for Matty this week. Just the ability to be strong in the contest, showed it in the last quarter, kicked three for the day which was a great result for a forward. Kicked two in the last quarter, took a couple of big marks and was coming more at the footy. Probably looked to fold back as a forward on the weekend and didn’t really provide a contest a lot for us, so a big learning curve for Matty.
 Leigh HardingLast but not least, super coach, Leigh Harding. Filled in late for us on the weekend, came in last minute on the death knock. Played forward, didn’t empty out a lot but provided very good coaching instructions for our younger players. Kicked three for us and had an impact on the scoreboard. Wound back the clock a few times with what he was able to do. Great crumb goal in the second which was a highlight of the day.