Brisbane Lions Strategy Coach Danny Daly told RadioTAB this morning he expects the 14th QClash to be a passionate battle between the two Queensland clubs.

“I’ve got no doubt they’ll come out full of life and energy,” Daly said.

“We’ve just got to be prepared for that.  But at the same time, we can’t lose focus on what’s important to us. We’re working on what we need to do and hopefully that’ll be enough,” he said.

Daly told RadioTAB the Lions can defeat the SUNS this weekend, but will need to grab the opportunity with both hands.

He admits the team were disappointed with Round 20’s close loss against the Western Bulldogs, as he believes the game was theirs to be won.

“We showed the boys four or five minutes of things that probably cost us the game on the weekend.”

“I think we need to start realising we have to win these games. We can’t just keep coming back in on Monday and saying you know boys it was a really good effort but we just fell short.”

Daly also spoke of the Club’s decision to omit Josh Schache from the Senior side this weekend.  The 19-year-old will instead return to the NEAFL competition.   

“Fages (Senior Coach Chris Fagan) sat him down earlier in the week and had a long chat with him, like he does with all the players,” he said.  

“They thought it was in the kid’s best interest just to send him back down to NEAFL and go and enjoy his footy for a couple of weeks.  And work on some areas that he needs to.”

Schache, in his second season of AFL, signed a two-year extension deal with the Lions in June. Coaching staff believe he will develop into a promising young forward in the coming seasons.

“He has been working really hard on the track. It just hasn’t been translating into games.”

Instead, the door has opened for teammate Michael Close this weekend, with the 23 year-old granted another opportunity to prove himself at Senior level.

The 197cm forward has played seven AFL games this year and eleven in the NEAFL competition. Last week ladder-leaders the Sydney Swans couldn’t contain Close as he contributed three goals and 20 disposals in the side’s win.  

“Michael Close has been in really good form now in our NEAFL side and he deserved the opportunity to come up.”

Daly said sending Senior players back to the NEAFL competition was not about improving statistics, but rather in building players’ confidence and demanding more energy and a loud voice on field.

“We’re not really interested when we send them back down in terms of how many kicks, marks, handballs they get,” he said. 

“Obviously, they get relegated because some part of their game might be falling down, an area they need to work on.”

Close will play in the forward line against the SUNS.

The Brisbane Lions will aim for their second Q Clash victory in 2017 against the Gold Coast SUNS on Saturday afternoon at the Gabba at 4:35pm.