The premiers closer to top 4, sending little brother down the highway

Photo: Coach Chris Fagan walks off the ground through Lions guard of honor after coaching record win (photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty images via AFL photos)

With the reigning champs getting back on the winner’s list last weekend, our focus turned to the Suns back at the Gabba. It wasn’t the night the Suns were after, with the Lions mauling their little brother in another dull Q-Clash affair.

The top headline coming out of our win was our very own general. Chris Fagan breaking the Brisbane Lions coaching record, passing Leigh Matthes record 237rd game as Senior Coach. Chris has transformed our whole club from a team that had half of the Gabba empty and about 21,000 members when he started back in 2017, which is such a contrast to now the Lions breaking their last record. Sitting at just past 75,000, which is a massive accomplishment for the club. The club is sitting in the top ten in the membership count in the league. All of us Lions are beyond grateful for what Fagan has done for this club and will continue to give to this incredible club.

The only question pending now is, can the Tasmanian Tiger win a third straight premiership to match Matthews’ record. If that does happen, then the great man will be thoroughly in contention as the best Lions Coach in history, and possibly one of the best coaches in AFL history, or at least this century. Fagan stated in his press conference after his record win, “I feel traumatically valued for how the footy club for the way they went about it”. But overall “he didn’t know what to think of the record”, and this highlights our general being the humble, gentle man we all know. That’s Chris Fagan for you.

Another top headline out of the Q-Clash win was, our two-time Norm Smith Medallist Will Ashcroft winning his second Marcus Ashcroft medal in his short incredible career The medal is named after his father, Marcus, which is given to the best on ground on every Q-clash. Will finished the night with another blunder, 31 disposals and a goal.

All over the game, there was a clear intent for tackling and pressure which the boys brought to the Suns, which was top notch stuff, as we won the tackle count by 12. While saying this, we did lose some key stat areas like hit outs, centre clearances and inside 50s, as we see the difference in these areas below:

But with saying all our this, the narrative was the same for the Suns, as they just couldn’t kick straight and keep the pressure on the Lions, kicking 6 goals, 17 behinds. This shows a clear difference in the efficiency inside 50, as the Lions (82.2%), to Gold Coast (51.9%). The overall narrative for the Suns was simple, they lost the game with their kicking, and it hurt them as the big brother mauling the Suns and cruised to a solid 42 point win in front of 30, 413 people at the Gabba on last Saturday night.

Exciting Werribee forward Logan Morris, shone with the ball again in the forward line kicking 4 straight for the night, leaving the Suns defence with no where to hide. Dayne Zorko was also a highlight for the group, with a solid 25 disposal game, along with Levi Ashcroft with 26 disposals and a goal to go with his work.

Moving forward, we look to the Pies at a huge Friday night game, where it’s do or die to make the top four. A win for the Lions, and a sixth top four finish within Fagan’s time at the helm will be a lock! And will be a great start for our assault to our three-peat run.

Team Selection will be another interesting watch, as the team went unchanged going into last weekend’s Q-Clash, but suddenly the suspension relise of emerging defender Ty Gallop looks like a possibility for the Pies clash, but Dary Gardiner or Dan Annable looks set to have a week off. Additonally, with the pies game looming, two great man of the footy club will be looking to be a part of a famous win for the group, as Recruit Sam Draper notches up his 100^th game in his career, alongside with Lion Cub Levi Ashcroft pulling up his 50^th AFL game, already a premiership player, and a star in the making just like his own brother.

But we will see next Friday if the Lions mean business for the finals, a loss could see us drop to low as seventh, so a win is what is necessary. Let’s do it for Big Drapes and the younger Ashcroft! Let’s go Brisbane, let’s hear some roar!