THE BRISBANE Lions have included midfielders Scott Harding and Richard Hadley as they look to shoot down a Swans hoodoo and keep their finals aspirations alive at the Gabba on Saturday night.
The Lions have not beaten Sydney at their last six attempts but burly full-back Daniel Merrett believes the Leigh Matthews-coached side is better-placed to turn that around than in past encounters.
The inclusions of Harding and Hadley for Rhan Hooper (suspended) and Matthew Moody (omitted) are the only changes to the Lions side that went down to Hawthorn by 24 points last week.
"Sydney are a quality side and they’ve shown that for four or five years now," Merrett said.
"They've had the better of us in the last few years and it’s going to be a huge game, no doubt.
"A couple of times we’ve ended up playing Sydney late in the year when we’ve had injuries and been struggling but I think we’re definitely travelling a lot better this time."
The Lions had won five games in a row before the loss to the Hawks.
The Swans, who have won five of their last six matches, made no changes in the wake of a tough 17-point win over another finals contender St Kilda.
TEAMS
Brisbane Lions
B: Joel Macdonald, Daniel Merrett, Jason Roe
HB: Jed Adcock, Joel Patfull, Colm Begley
C: Tim Notting, Nigel Lappin, Cheynee Stiller
HF: Wayde Mills, Jonathan Brown, Robert Copeland
F: Troy Selwood, Matthew Leuenberger, Jared Brennan
FOLL: Jamie Charman, Simon Black, Luke Power
I/C: Michael Rischitelli, Scott Harding, Chris Johnson, Richard Hadley
EMG: Matthew Moody, Will Hamill, Justin Sherman
Sydney
B: Tadhg Kennelly, Ted Richards, Nick Malceski
HB: Paul Bevan, Craig Bolton, Ben Mathews
C: Luke Ablett, Brett Kirk, Amon Buchanan
HF: Ryan O’Keefe, Michael O’Loughlin, Jarrad McVeigh
F: Adam Schneider, Barry Hall, Nick Davis
Foll: Darren Jolly, Jude Bolton , Adam Goodes
I/C: Luke Brennan, Peter Everitt, Nic Fosdike, Tim Schmidt
EMG: Ed Barlow, Sean Dempster, Lewis Roberts-Thomson
On the punt
For the second week in a row, the Lions are pre-post underdogs with UNiTAB, at $2.05 compared to Sydney’s $1.70.
Punters looking for a relatively exotic wager might be interested in the odds for combined scoring. The Lions average 93 points per game, while the Swans are racking up 92-points an outing - making the 181-190 and 191-200 brackets attractive at $8 and $9 respectively.
Jonathan Brown is now the overwhelming Coleman Medal favourite at $1.60, as well as being in to $14 for the Brownlow Medal.
Key match-up
Daniel Merrett (Lions) v Barry Hall (Swans). The unassuming Merrett is keen to keep things low-key but with Brown close to unstoppable in recent weeks at the other end of the ground, this battle is likely to prove crucial.
Merrett kept Hall to two goals in Round 21 of last year and his effort in Round 3 of this year, when the Swans star booted four goals, was probably better than it looks on paper.
Importantly, Lions coach Leigh Matthews believes his still inexperienced full-back has improved considerably since that clash.
Odds and sods
*Sydney has won eight of its last 10 matches against the Lions, including the last six. With the Lions having broken their West Coast jinx in Round 14, this is now the club’s longest active losing streak, dating back to Round 1 of 2004.
*Saturday night’s game will be the perfect advertisement for the rookie system, with 11 players – a quarter of the selected sides – getting their AFL chance from outside the primary list. The Lions have Joel Macdonald, Jason Roe, Colm Begley, Cheynee Stiller, Robbie Copeland and Scott Harding, while the Swans will field Tadhg Kennelly, Paul Bevan, Brett Kirk, Darren Jolly and Luke Brennan. Jolly started off as a rookie with Melbourne while Brennan was drafted and cut by Hawthorn before getting a second crack at the AFL via the Sydney rookie list.
*As a measure of Brown’s super form, his 65 goals for the season are only four less than Sydney’s highly regarded forward pairing of Barry Hall and Michael O’Loughlin have managed between them. His purple patch over the last seven weeks has netted 39 goals, one more than Hall has kicked this year.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
