The Lions fell 45-points, 5.11 (41) to 10.26 (86), short of Sydney at the SCG on Saturday.
Please find below Coach Shane Woewodin’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions who played against the Swans.
| Zac O’Brien | Inside mid all day, he was clearly best on ground. He’s had 50 possessions for the day but in that a really total game. Really good around the contest, laid seven tackles, had 10 clearances and 10 inside 50s. His work rate was exceptional throughout the day, his ability to fight in the contest and provide the forwards an opportunity with his crumb work as an inside mid was terrific. He got tagged in the second half, but still had an influence on the contest throughout the day. |
| Tom Cutler | Tommy again played as an inside mid. He had a lot of the ball but probably didn’t have the impact he probably should have throughout the day. Still got to work really hard on his running and his contest skills where he finds himself walking a lot throughout the game. We just need to see more effort and work in this area from Tommy at this level to be able to play senior footy. |
| Josh Clayton | Again played half back. It was his best game of the season to date and gave his the job on Rose one of the Swans’ really good forwards and got the chocolates for the day. Much improved in the contest, he laid a couple of tackles on the day which was his goal. Still got to tidy up his ball use particularly at half back so we’ll work on that throughout the week with his kicking but good to see him improving week to week now that he’d gone back in defence. |
| Luke McGuane | Luke continues to improve and get better after coming back from his knee injury. He’s had 24 possessions this week, he played a little bit behind the ball at times throughout the day just to stem the bleeding from the Swans. His ability to lead from the front, he was really good in the contest for us. He still had four shots on goal, he kicked 1.3 but certainly puts himself into selection for senior mode. |
| Josh Watts | He had a difficult opponent on the day. He played on Dean Towers who kicked 2.6. He probably didn’t have him for the entire game. It certainly wasn’t one of his great games. He still had some ball but needs to do a lot better with his efficiency. We’re hoping for Josh to bounce back this week. |
| Mitch Golby | Not as much impact this week, he played wing/ half-back. He was probably a little bit untidy with the ball. Still a solid game without as big an impact as he’d had in previous weeks. We’re hoping for him to bounce back this week against the Suns. |
| Archie Smith | Continues to grow and evolve as a ruckman. He picked up another 16 possessions this week which was a great result for Arch. He had a lot more impact around the ground. He needs to improve his contest stuff in the air and his stoppage work and his centre square bounce work and set the tone for our mids with his aggressiveness in there. All in all an improvement in the back half of the year. |
| Billy Evans | Inside mid early, had no impact playing in the contest playing there. He probably fumbled a little bit Billy. He only had five possessions to half time as a midfielder so we moved him to half forward and he played as a fifth at stoppage where he had a lot more impact. He kicked two goals for the day and probably could have kicked three or four if teammates had of given him the ball at certain times. He had more impact particularly around the ground in terms of his transitioning to get forward and at the contest that way. It’s still a learning curve for Bill, as a mid, but now he’s starting to understand what the running and transitioning is all about. |
| Matt Hammelmann | A key defender for the day. He was OK. We’re seeing some improvement from Matty week to week particularly around his contest work. He had a couple of good engage-separates which he’s been focusing on in the contest. There’s still some work to do around his HIT in defence against some opponents about engaging them at the right time. He’s certainly learnt a lot since going back and getting involved in more contests. Hopefully he can transfer that into being a forward in the future. |
| Trent West | More time in the ruck this week. Not jumping still though, but more impact around the ground as well. He had 14, was involved in more ruck contests throughout the day. He’s pulling up that much better with his knee, his lateral movements and his ability to cover the ground is improving. It’s just now about gaining more confidence and more game time to hopefully put himself in senior selection at the back half of the year or the last few weeks anyway. |
| Brent Staker | A quiet day for Stakes. He was OK on the hit up, but probably needed to impact more contests aerially. Either through marking or bringing the ball to ground as a forward. Probably needs to organise his forwards a bit more in front of the ball and make sure they’re organised in structure. Only the one goal. Hopefully he’ll rebound this week and impact the scoreboard a bit more as a key forward. |
