AN ‘OBLITERATION’

Stats don’t always tell the true story of a match, however they were pretty accurate on Saturday evening at Etihad Stadium.

Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch described the match against the Kangaroos as an “absolute obliteration”, and it was evident on the stats sheet with the Lions having 120 less disposals (417 to 297), 59 less contested possessions (147-88), 10 less clearances (42-32), and 32 less scoring shots (40-8).

LIONS FLOORED WITH ILLNESS

The Lions could ill afford to lose any more experience heading into the North Melbourne match, but lost it past two Club Champions – Tom Rockliff and Joel Patfull – before the game due to illness.

Dayne Zorko was also unwell, but was required to play given the Club had just two emergencies with them in Melbourne – Nick Robertson and Michael Close. The rest of the squad was in Darwin preparing for the NEAFL clash against NT Thunder.

Zorko was subbed out early in the game with just three disposals to his name – two of which were received from free kicks.

To make matters worse, the Lions had already lost young gun Sam Mayes to a concussion earlier in the week, while Jonathan Brown was also under an injury cloud.

Like Zorko, Brown played but had little influence on the contest with just two disposals and two marks.

Although Leppitsch said the ‘Footy Gods’ had be unkind to the Lions, he failed to use it as an excuse for his team’s poor performance.

“Those things don’t help, but you can still put your head over the ball in the short term,” he said.

“Browny was a little underdone coming into the game, we knew that. We had to use all our emergencies.”

BEAMS RETURNS

If there were any positives from the Lions camp after the match, it was that Claye Beams made a promising return in his first senior AFL match in more than 12 months.

After undergoing a full knee reconstruction in 2013, and then battling a fractured foot early this year, Beams collected 12 disposals, laid five tackles and kicked a goal.

The performance should give him great confidence heading into the second half of the season.

GREEN AND CLOSE COMBINE

Josh Green and Michael Close combined to kick five of the Lions’ six goals against North Melbourne.

Green’s second consecutive bag of three majors places him outright second on the Club’s goal-kicking list for 2014 – four behind current leader Jonathan Brown.

Close, meanwhile, bagged his first two goals in the AFL – and the Club is confident that they will be the first of many.

LAST MEN STANDING

The loss of Joel Patfull and Sam Mayes before the North Melbourne match means there are now just eight Lions players who have played in all nine senior games so far this season.

Interestingly, half of those – Justin Clarke, James Aish, Lewis Taylor and Marco Paparone – are aged 20 or under.

The others include recruit Trent West, Captain Jed Adcock, Dayne Zorko, and Jack Redden.   

AFL FANTASY TOP FIVE
1. Jack Redden – 110 points
2. Jed Adcock – 107 points
3. Mitch Golby – 91 points
4. Ryan Lester – 88 points
5. Pearce Hanley – 87 points

WHO WAS BEST?
Afl.com.au listed Adcock, Aish, Green, Ryan Lester, and Mitch Golby as the Lions’ best, but who do YOU think were the team’s three best players?

Vote now online for the Club Player of the Year