Brisbane had many problems in Friday night’s Preliminary Final loss to Geelong, and several that proved the club still has some way to go before a premiership.
The 71-point defeat was among the worst prelim performances in recent memories, with most of the damage done in dominant second and third quarters.
Chris Fagan’s troops struggled to move the footy all night, but couldn’t put the same pain on Geelong, who kicked 120 points from 59 inside 50s.
Five-time premiership Hawk Dermott Brereton believes one of the Lions’ main issues was their ability to intercept. Harris Andrews managed just one intercept possession playing on Tom Hawkins, leaving Darcy Gardiner and Jack Payne as the only Brisbane talls to record more than five intercept possessions.
On the flip side, Geelong had four medium/tall defenders record at least six intercepts.
Brereton believes it’s an area that needs much improvement, and floated a potential trade recruit who could help.
“A few things with Brisbane’s game, they have some backmen who are committed to the task but they don’t mark the ball in the back half of the ground, if so the wrong players mark it and it’s not a true intercept mark like a Jeremy McGovern or a Jake Lever,” he told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“I’m probably going a little far ahead here but I would even look at… (Aaron) Francis from Essendon I know the competitiveness is an issue, but they’ve got to find somebody who can jump above a pack and mark the ball in the backline.
“Even last week they were outnumbering key forwards against Melbourne 2-on-1 and still fisting the ball. That’s great for the golden fist… but you’ve got to mark the ball if you’ve got the numbers. Geelong do it, Melbourne does it – as the team that won the premiership last year – Brisbane do not do it, they always defend with fist in air.
“They need to find something there.”
AFL Media has reported Francis will seek a trade away from Essendon this off-season. He is out of contract and is understood to be happy to go to a number of clubs, not just back to his home straight of South Australia.
Brereton also highlighted issues with the forward line and midfield of Brisbane. Joe Daniher returned against the Cats but struggled to have a major influence on the contest, finishing with 14 touches and no goals, while Jarryd Lyons’ injury exposed a lack of depth in the middle.
“They’ve got some issues there, how do they score better, are they deep enough once Lyon goes out of that team in the midfield…?” Brereton added.
“So they’ve got some issues, personnel issues if they want to improve on next year, and we’re talking about improvement of 71 points in next year’s Preliminary Final if they want to improve.”
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for Lions fans. The club will take Will Ashcroft as a father-son in the upcoming National Draft, while they’re also favoured to land out-of-contract Bulldog Josh Dunkley.