GREEN PASSES BROWN
Josh Green’s two goals against West Coast last Saturday were enough to edge him past Jonathan Brown as the Lions’ leading goal-kicker in 2014.

Green has now booted 22 goals this season, one more than the retired Brown (21) and nine more than his closest competitor for the title, fellow Mozzie Squad member Dayne Zorko (13).

With only six games remaining, Green has all but shored up the honour, but will be hoping to better his previous season-best return of 24 goals from 2013.

He is set to become just the eighth player to lead the Club’s goal-kicking since the 1997 merger, along with: Justin Leppitsch (leading goal-kicker in 1997-98), Jarrod Molloy (1999), Alastair Lynch (2000-03), Jason Akermanis (2004), Daniel Bradshaw (2005-06, 2008), Jonathan Brown (2007, 2009-10, 2012-13), and Mitch Clark (2011).

It’s interesting to note that Leppitsch’s 26 goals in the Lions’ wooden-spoon year of 1998 remains the lowest total by a leading goal-kicker in the Club’s merged history.

Green is currently averaging just over 1.5 goals per game in 2014, which means he is on target to achieve around 31 goals by the end of the season.

NO STOPPING STEF
He’s become a regular item in our weekly stats breakdown, but you simply can’t ignore the numbers that Stef Martin has been posting since  his return in Round 12.

Martin caused all sorts of headaches for West Coast last Saturday night.

For the fourth week in a row, he collected 20 or more disposals. In fact, he finished with 24, which is not only a season-high, but his biggest return since joining the Lions at the end of 2012.

He also took seven marks, which was just one shy of a career-best.

It’s little wonder that the Lions are about to start speaking with Martin’s management about a contract extension.

“We haven’t had a formal chat at this point in time but the way he is going, we will look to do something pretty soon,” GM – Football Operations, Dean Warren told The Courier Mail recently.

HANLEY BEATS HARD TAG
After being held to just nine disposals by renowned Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley last month, Pearce Hanley was always going to a target for the Eagles – particularly with Tom Rockliff and Jack Redden sidelined.

The Eagles gave Mark Hutchings the task of putting a hard tag on Hanley, and while he somewhat limited the dashing Lion’s influence, the Irishman still managed to find 21 disposals and be one of his team’s better performers.

It was a promising step for Hanley, who can probably expect that sort of attention for many years to come.

“He fought through really well,” Senior Coach Justin Leppitsch said post-game.

“He’s getting some attention now and it’s a credit to him. He’s had a pretty good month of footy.”

WORK AT STOPPAGES
Without Rockliff and Redden – who are the team’s leading contested ball-getters, clearance-winners, and tacklers – the Lions were always going to be up against it in the midfield.

But in their absence, a number of players stepped up to ensure that the match wasn’t won or lost at the stoppages.

Leppitsch commented that it was a key point of focus before the game: “We didn’t get exploited in that area of the ground…we came out even in that battle,” he said.

Ryan Lester took on greater responsibility in the middle, and finished with 20 disposals and a team-high six clearances.

Two of the team’s young guns in James Aish and Sam Mayes also showed that they weren’t just ‘outside’ players.

Aish had an equal career-best five clearances to go with an equal career-best nine tackles, while Mayes also laid a career-best six tackles, to go along with three clearances and 20 disposals.   

HARWOOD HEATING UP
Ryan Harwood has grown in confidence over the past seven rounds, and produced one of his better performances of the season against the Eagles.

Harwood finished with a season-high 28 disposals – one short of his career-best from Round 14 of 2012 – at an efficiency of 89%.

He is quickly becoming an important part of the Lions’ back six, which is looking more and more settled each week.

PATFULL’S POT SHOT
Despite being recruited to the Lions as a potential key forward, Joel Patfull hasn’t been a notable goal-kicker throughout his 176 games.

In fact, Patfull had kicked just one goal in 75 games up until Round 12 this season.

He has since kicked two goals from his past six games, the most recent a terrific running shot to open the Lions’ account last Saturday night.

Maybe the two-time Club Champion is starting to enjoy his rare forays forward.

AFL FANTASY TOP FIVE
1. Stefan Martin – 113 points
2. Sam Mayes – 105 points
3. Dayne Zorko – 105 points
4. James Aish – 102 points
5. Mitch Golby – 94 points

WHO WAS BEST?
Afl.com.au listed Martin, Zorko, Lester, Harwood, Patfull, and Hanley 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. http://fansmvp.lions.com.au/vote/round?