The Lions Reserves also suffered a tough defeat at the hands of the Gold Coast SUNS to the tune of 40 points last Saturday afternoon at Southport.
After achieving impressive wins against Southport and Redland over the past couple of weeks, the loss proved a bitter pill to swallow for Reserves Coach Nathan Clarke and his young team.
“It was really disappointing and set the tone for the rest of the day in a way,” Clarke said.
“We were awfully flat-footed and they taught us a lesson in intensity. I guess our teams in both grades were caught napping.”
The Reserves approached the game without Bryce Retzlaff and Josh Drummond who had been elevated to the senior team while Josh Green, who has been among the Lions’ most consistent performers in 2011, was forced to sit out as the senior team’s emergency player.
To compound matters, the Lions lost a couple of key players early through injury.
But Clarke refused to make any excuses for his team’s loss and instead praised the efforts of their opponents.
“We certainly missed Retzlaff’s presence across half-forward, but it was obviously great for him to earn his spot in the senior team,” Clarke said.
“Josh Green didn’t play either and he’s just been so good this year with his spread and his energy.”
“Xavier Clarke did his hamstring in the first five minutes of the game and then Niall McKeever did his quad which put another massive hole in us.”
“It was just one of those days. Amon Buchanan copped a pretty bad cork during the warm-up but kept on going throughout the game,” he said.
“But to the Gold Coast’s credit, they were just all over us. They put our Western Magpies players under immense pressure that they probably haven’t been used to.”
“Quite simply, they were better than us.”
Clarke said there were still some promising signs from the disappointing loss.
“Matt Austin battled his guts out all day and Hawksley, Sheldon and Harwood all had a crack.”
“But we just didn’t have the right mix of players.”
This Saturday the Lions Reserves will play their first cross-conference match against the AFL’s newest franchise - the GWS Giants - back home at Giffin Park, Coorparoo.
The Giants have won two of their three NEAFL Eastern Conference matches so far in 2011 and Clarke has kept a close eye on them.
“I’ve been lucky to have coached for a number of seasons in Canberra, so I can read into their form pretty well based on who they’ve beaten and lost to,” he said.
“Our National Talent Manager Rob Kerr has also seen them play a bit as well. Rob has given me a good report on them which has helped me get a gauge on some of their individual players.”
“If we have learned anything from last week, it’s to never underestimate the spirit and enthusiasm of young blokes.”
“GWS will be excited about the prospect of playing against another AFL club - and we should be as well.”
The match is certain to draw plenty of interest from the local football public considering Rugby League convert Israel Folau looks set to make his first AFL appearance in Queensland while legendary four-time AFL premiership coach Kevin Sheedy will be sitting at the helm of his new club which will be officially introduced into the AFL competition in 2012.
