The NEAFL Lions lost to the Gold Coast Suns by 24-points at Coorparoo on Saturday.

Brisbane Lions v Gold Coast Suns at Coorparoo

GOLD COAST 5.1 10.4 15.6 18.10 (118)

BRISBANE 3.3 7.5 12.7 14.10 (94)

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GOALS – Gold Coast: K Brooskby 5 A Hall 4 P Wright 3 Z Smith T Downie S Fahey B Erickson D Gorringe S Tape. Brisbane: S Mayes 5 J Clayton 2 B Staker 2 Z O’Brien 2 L Dawson R Lester S Cormick.

BEST – Gold Coast: K Brooksby Z Smith A Hall S Tape G Broughton C Cameron. Brisbane: S Mayes Z O’Brien L Dawson R Lester M Golby.

Please find below Coach Shane Woewodin’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions who played against the Suns.

Billy Evans

Billy was again solid around stoppage. His contest work is going really well at the moment, he’s very compliant in a lot of areas. He improved his tackling this week, he’s still working on his defensive actions in his deny hit areas on opponents and his three quick step from stoppage. I want to see Billy working a little bit harder between the archs in transition to win a bit more uncontested ball.

Matt HammelmannPlayed as a key back this week and did a really good job on Gorringe who was a key forward for GCS. Snuffed him and beat him in the contest. Offensively he gave us a bit of drive as a key defender which is really good for his game and Matty being in the game more as a defender. He’s still working on the game with his spoiling and his body spoiling and his ability to impact aerial contests.
Josh ClaytonJoshy played as a high forward this week. He kicked 2.2, potentially could have kicked two or three more with some efforts. He’s improving with his offensive game. We’re still working really hard with Josh and his defensive side of his game as a small forward, his ability to pressure up inside 50 and work on his tackling technique.
Liam DawsonA different role for Liam last week, we played him as a defender and was probably in our best during the day. Gave us a bit of offensive drive with his skills by foot, rebounded the ball nine times out of defensive 50, which was a great result. He took a couple of really good intercept marks as well. A new role for Dawso and looked settled down back.
Sam MayesAgain a real improvement from Sammy this week. He took some feedback on from the previous game, his work around stoppage was so much better with his ability to get starting points right. He kicked five goals, so his finish and his offensive side of his game was really, really good. His RFI is a continual deny and hit from stoppage and his defensive work, that’s the gap with him to AFL standard.
Brent StakerSecond game back for Stakes, he played as a key forward again. Structured up players around him really well, missed three shots on goal which he should’ve kicked. If he can tidy up that side of his game, it will compliment it so much better. He took seven contested marks, we need more from him as he continues to build his game time up.
Ryan Lester‘Froggy’ played three quarters before we took him off as our emergency. He was very good, I think he had 29 touches, three quick steps from stoppage, and the ability to impact and spread from stoppage was fantastic. Strong in the contest, shaped the ball well and equalised as a midfielder. A really good standard that may put him into contention again.
Darcy GardinerA key back, he probably got beaten in some aerial contests by his opponent on the day, particularly with Wright and Brooksby. Seemed to have used the ball better offensively this week, compared to last. Zero tackles as a defender so that will certainly be a talking point during the week but a much improved performance from Dizzy.
Dan MerrettRog’s first game back. He played a half, we started him on the bench and then worked him on in the second quarter being a general for us down there. Starting points would be one for him to work on during the week. He’s missed a lot of footy and was a bit rusty with ball in hand, he’ll continue to work on that during the week. It was good to see him back, he hit full speed, he crashed packs, his tackling and intensity was on in the game so it was good to see Rog get through.
Josh McGuinnessA solid game from Josh on the wing, there were periods during the game where he played as a defender. He missed two goals so he needs to finish these off to compliment his game really well. He had about 20 touches, again had zero tackles for this week so that’ll be a big focus going into the NT Thunder game. The understanding of his patterns is improving quickly, it’ll be good for him to continue to improve on it.
Mitch GolbyBetter this week, more intensity and energy on ground. He had some really good skinny side press edits for him to see, again he probably missed two shots on goal where he could finish off his work as a winger to again compliment his game. Shaped the ball well from scrimmage and it’s good to see his compliancy with his skills by foot.
Archie Smith An improved performance from the previous week, still some work to do in his defensive actions and his ability to swivel his head and take out his opponents and win the ball. We’ve got to continue to get him to jump more at the centre square bounce but he did lay five tackles and his follow up work as a ruckman was much better.
 Zac O’BrienWe played him a bit more as a fifth, as a high forward coming up to stoppage. His impact around the stoppage areas was really good, I think he had eight clearances, five or six tackles. He equalised well, he had four shots on goal as a forward so that was very good. He could have kicked three or four. We probably want to see Zac use the ball by hands a bit more rather than take on tackles, that will be his focus during the week. He had 41 touches for the game and was one of our best players for the day. A great attitude shown.