Jonathan Brown’s fourth goal against Hawthorn last Saturday shot him into outright third position on the Club’s all-time goal-kickers list.
Brown now sits at 577 career goals, surpassing ‘Superboot’ Bernie Quinlan’s total of 576 goals with Fitzroy.
Brown remains 49 goals shy of Jack Moriarty (626 goals), who sits in second place on the all-time list, while Alastair Lynch still holds the record with 633 goals throughout his time with Fitzroy, the Bears, and the Brisbane Lions.
Brown also moved up four places from 37th to 33rd on the all-time VFL/AFL goal-kickers list, leapfrogging Richard Osborne (574 goals), Stephen Milne (574), Simon Madden (575) and Simon Beasley (575).
A best for West
In his first official AFL match in Lions colours, Trent West recorded a career-high three goals.
West had previously booted 23 goals throughout his 54-game career with Geelong, but seemed to relish spending more time up forward in Launceston.
Disposal leaders lowered
The Lions’ three leading disposal winners from 2013 – Tom Rockliff, Jack Redden and Pearce Hanley – were all held to less than 20 touches against Hawthorn on Saturday.
Redden’s 14 disposal count was his lowest since Round 14 of 2010, while Rockliff failed to reach 20 touches just three times last season.
But Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch would have been pleased to see some new names appear among the Lions’ leading disposal winners.
Josh Green, for instance, was one of only four players to have 20 or more disposals – along with Dayne Zorko (28), Brent Moloney (23), and Ryan Lester (20).
In fact, Green’s 21-possessions was a career-high at AFL level – and how fitting it was that he achieved this feat in front of his home-town crowd in Tasmania.
Promising debuts
In addition to Trent West, there was also a lot to like about the Club’s other three debutants – James Aish, Michael Close, and Lewis Taylor.
Aish might have been the team’s equal eighth leading disposal winner with 17 touches, but he also had five one percenters – the most of any non-defender.
Big man Close didn’t see a lot of the ball, but did his chances of a second senior game no harm by showing an ability to apply forward pressure with five tackles.
In fact, Close was the team’s fourth highest tackler in just 53% of game time.
Taylor, meanwhile, was the starting substitute and played just 30% of the game, but almost joined that exclusive group of players to score a goal with his very first kick.
Tackling machine
Jack Redden further established himself as the Lions’ ‘tackling machine’ with a team high 11 against Hawthorn.
Redden now sits equal second on the AFL tacklers’ list, with Adelaide’s Rory Sloane (12) the only player to have laid more in Round One.
Who was best?
Afl.com.au listed Rockliff, Dayne Zorko (team-high 28 disposals and five clearances), Redden, Lester, Green, and Brown as the Lions’ best, but who do YOU think were the team’s three best players?
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