FORTUNE is said to favour the brave, and Joel Macdonald says he and his fellow Brisbane Lions backmen will continue to take calculated risks in turning defence into attack.
Macdonald is enjoying the best season of his career to date, averaging 22 possessions per game and generating plenty of drive from half-back.
He was again in the thick of things in Sunday’s win over St Kilda, amassing 26 disposals and typifying the “bold and brave” approach the Lions have adopted as part of their team ethos.
”We’re all about the same age down in defence and have played the same amount of games, so there’s a bit of chemistry happening,” Macdonald said.
”As a team we like to play on at all costs - the players drive it and the coaches drive it as well. You are going to get caught every now and then, but it’s all about being prepared to take risks.
”At the end of the day, everyone gets on the bolt, and when you do get caught you always have someone there to help you out and take the handball.”
The 46-point win over the Saints improved the eighth-placed Lions’ record to 5-4 and put a game between them and ninth-placed Carlton.
The result marked the first time in 2008 that the Lions have put together consecutive wins, but Macdonald said the focus had already turned to the round 10 home clash against North Melbourne.
”North are similar to us in that they play a really competitive brand of football,” he said.
”The last two weeks and the next two weeks are games we identified as being eight-point games for us, because they are against teams that are thereabouts to us on the ladder.
”North Melbourne are really good around the stoppages, so we’ll talk during the week about how can stop some of their better players there.”
Stoppages were a discussion point after Sunday’s victory, with the Saints dominating the clearances in the last 10 minutes and reducing a 12-goal-plus margin to less than eight goals at the final siren.
”The last 10 minutes of the game were terrible – we got smashed at the stoppages and it put a dampener on a really good win,” Macdonald said.
”Percentage is going to be a big thing for us as long as we keep winning games, and we should have buried them from where we were.
”We’ve just got to keep trying to improve the way we’re going in fourth quarters. Luckily (in) the last couple of weeks, our first few quarters have been good enough to give us the luxury of still getting over the line.”
