“Wrecking Ball” Mitch Robinson says the Brisbane Lions are determined to redeem themselves in front of the Gabba faithful against the Tigers on Saturday night.
Robinson said the levels of desire were high across the playing group and the team would show marked improvement across the board on Sunday’s loss to the Kangaroos.
“It’s put back on us players – the coaches have put the structures in place, and those structures can work as we’ve seen in the preseason,” Robinson told SEN Radio.
“We’ve copped out whack and it’s time like these when you need players to step on the field and show leadership on the field because we do have a young team.
“We’ve got a short turn around this week … and you will see a team with much more desire coming out on Saturday night at the Gabba.
“It will make for a great game on the weekend, it’s the same scenario for both of us, they are coming off a loss to the Doggies and we’ve had a big loss against the Kangaroos.
“They’ve got a great midfield with Cotchin, Martin and the guys – we’re got a few things to think about and we’ll have our plans in place to nullify their great players.
“It’s all on us players with attitude and we will come on Saturday night and put on a good show. Hopefully everyone gets to the Gabba and comes and supports us.”
Robinson said as well as improving their contested footy and defensive pressure, the Lions would also be working on generating more goal-scoring power through the midfield.
“There is an emphasis on the midfield to get more goals out of us, and we showed in the preseason that you don’t need big forwards kicking bags to win games,” he said.
“We also have to rely on our pressure small forwards – the Mozzie Fleet – and some of us getting forward and equalizing the contest and getting a couple of snags here and there.”
Robinson said he had adjusted well to his new team and was loving Brisbane with his young family.
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in football terms, all the blokes were very welcoming, it was a tough preseason and you can just really focus on the job at hand outside of the Melbourne footy bubble.
“I came here with a new attitude, it hit home that footy can be taken away from you like that – I’ve got to provide for my family and my small boy and my partner. My attitude has definitely changed and I’ve come up here and tried to tick every box that I can.
“Leppa has been great. He has been all about family – I have a small one and he has one himself – and that was something I definitely wanted to come and experience, he’s really good and like the one-on-one stuff with the players.”
