After claiming the past two State League titles, the Brisbane Lions Reserves can expect a more hotly contested NEAFL competition in 2014.
Already this pre-season, the Lions have suffered defeats at the hands of Aspley and Redland – who are two of the five Queensland-based sides that form part of the reformatted 14-team competition.
Seven of the more senior members from last year’s NEAFL Grand Final triumph have since departed the Club, and have been replaced by a host of young players, many of whom are about to embark on their first season of senior football.
Innovation & Development Manager Gary O’Donnell told lions.com.au that fans can expect to see a new-look Reserves side in 2014 following a wealth of changes over the off-season.
“With such a young group, the dynamic is certainly different this year,” O’Donnell said.
“I suspect it will be purely a development year. The important thing for us is to start preparing these young players for AFL footy, and work on certain parts of their game so that they can eventually fill spots in the senior team.
“Quite a chunk of the guys that have since moved on had a big influence at NEAFL level, but couldn’t quite translate that into AFL form.”
The Lions Reserves were defeated by Redland last Saturday – 14.15 (99) to 8.10 (58) – in their final practice match of the 2014 NEAFL pre-season.
However, O’Donnell said the contest was more even than the final margin might have suggested.
“We thought it was a pretty even game,” he said.
“We lost two blokes (Patrick Wearden and Sam Michael) in the first 10 minutes – so were forced to play with 20 for rest of the game. Darcy Gardiner also only played two thirds of game time in his first hitout since returning from injury.
“The opposition had six players and were able to keep the pace on the game. It was a 12pm start as well, which meant it was pretty hot out there.
“When we were fresh, we were OK and managed to stay with them for most of the first half. Halfway through third, they started to kick away a little bit. But it was still a competitive game considering the circumstances.”
Please find below Gary O’Donnell’s appraisal on each of the players who lined-up against Redland last Saturday.
Jack Crisp | Played mid mostly. Would have had mid-20s in terms of disposals. Ran OK under pressure with fewer rotations. Tried hard. |
Nick Robertson | Played the game 100 miles an hour, as he normally does. He crashed in, just has to learn how to pull back a little bit. He’s still learning the game and improves a little bit each week. |
Jordan Lisle | Played key back and had a pretty good day. Because we had limited rotations, we had to play on our terms a little bit, so took 125 uncontested marks. I think he had a dozen, and that style suits him because he reads the play well. The main challenge for him was to play on a bloke and beat him one-on-one. |
Daniel McStay | Had to play 100% game time, so got a little bit tired at times. It probably detracted from his ability to react and get organised and defend the way he wanted to. |
Darcy Gardiner | Played 20 minutes a quarter and looked impressive first up. Looks like a senior player. His GPS numbers were really good. Runs fast and is a really proactive defender. A real competitor who hates getting beaten. Encouraging start. |
Andrew Raines | Played on the wing and got involved. With plenty of short kicks, he would have taken a dozen marks and had 30 possessions. OK game. |
Jonathan Freeman | Had a quiet day. Took a couple of big flies, but didn’t hold onto them. Just needs to keep concentrating on attacking the ball. His reaction needs to be a bit quicker when we’ve got it, and when we’re trying to get it back. |
Matt Maguire | Played forward and was a bit similar to Freeman. When Michael went down in ruck, he had to be second ruck as well. Kicked one goal. Didn’t have a big influence, but didn’t have a lot of rest either. |
Patrick Wearden | Played first 10 minutes before hurting his ankle. He’s getting scans and we’ll assess the extent of the damage in the next couple of days. |
Jackson Paine | Encouraging game. Took four marks – a couple of contested – and kicked four goals. Work rate was high. Was more a mobile forward, playing further up the ground. Was probably our best forward on the day. |
Isaac Conway | Played mid and then a little across half-back. By his standards, it was probably a quieter game. He’s just working on a couple of things to get better. |
Nick Hayes | Played mostly mid and across half-forward. Didn’t get a huge amount of the ball, but all of them were pretty good. Showed some good work in close in traffic, and laid a couple of terrific chase-down tackles. |
Archie Smith | Really encouraging performance. The previous week (against Aspley) he was all over the shop. But with Michael down, he had to shoulder a lot of the ruck load. He only had a handful of possessions, but gave us first use of the ball at a lot of stoppages. He also kicked a good set-shot goal from 40m out from a mark. |
Jordon Bourke | Good game. Had 26 touches and took 16 marks – six of which were intercepts. Was probably our best defender. |
Sam Michael | Injured early in his first game back from a broken hand. Felt his hamstring in warm-up, but still went like a bull at a gate from the start, and pulled up sore. Hopefully nothing too serious. Has had an interrupted pre-season, but his energy levels and his vibe was really good for the team. |
Zac O’Brien | Probably our best. He had it 39 times, and his work rate was pretty good. It was probably the first time he’s shown what he’s capable of in the midfield. |
Did not play: Rohan Bewick (senior emergency), Tom Cutler (soreness), James Polkinghorne (soreness)
