Lions.com.au takes a closer look at some of the statistics from the team’s Round 12 match against Fremantle in Perth.
Disposals
In his first game back since the team’s Round 8 win over Essendon, Mitch Golby collected a team-high 29 disposals across half-back.
However, there were some signs of rust in Golby’s performance, given he also had an equal team-high six clangers.
Sam Mayes also looked refreshed from his two-week break with 25 disposals, the equal second most at the Club along with Ryan Lester who is looking a more established AFL midfielder with every outing.
Inside 50
The Lions managed 43 inside 50s for the evening – a marked improvement on their previous AFL record-low of 20 against Fremantle back in Round 3 last year.
Pearce Hanley contributed a team-high seven inside 50s – including two goals assists – while Rohan Bewick had five.
Rebound 50s
Ryan Harwood and Elliot Yeo looked comfortable in defence, and each finished with an equal team-high five rebound 50s against the Dockers.
Yeo was particularly impressive considering 100% of his disposals were effective.
Goals
Jordan Lisle produced a career-best three goal effort – which was half of the team’s total goal tally – against a stringent Dockers defence last Saturday.
Lisle also grabbed an equal team-high seven marks and worked hard on the bigger surface at Subiaco.
He was one of only three goal-kickers for the Lions, with Ash McGrath (two goals) and Tom Rockliff (one) also hitting the scoreboard.
Milestone Men
In his record-breaking game, Simon Black was given the ultimate compliment by having Fremantle’s Ryan Crowley – one of the competition’s premier taggers – shadow him from the outset.
It was further proof that Black still commanded the opposition’s best tagger at the ripe old age of 34.
Despite being held relatively quiet with just 13 disposals, the veteran midfielder still had a team-high five clearances at the time he was substituted with fatigue in the third quarter.
Joel Patfull, meanwhile, once again performed his role for the team in his 150th AFL match with little fuss or fanfare.
Patfull clearly had the height advantage in his match-up on Dockers’ forward Hayden Ballantyne, and he also more than matched the clever goal-sneak at ground level.
Patfull finished with 16 disposals – two more than his opponent – but more importantly held Ballantyne goalless for the evening.
Positive Returns
Mitch Golby wasn’t the only Lion to impress in his first hitout back from injury.
Matthew Leuenberger was the dominant big man during the first half, and finished the game with 25 hitouts and five tackles, while Daniel Rich (19 disposals) was eased back during his first match in two months with a role across half-back.
Dream Team
The Lions’ top five AFL Dream Team scorers were as follows:
99 – Sam Mayes
95 – Jed Adcock
92 – Mitch Golby
91 – Matthew Leuenberger
90 – Ryan Lester
Stats breakdown
Simon Black was paid the ultimate compliment in his 319th game