Brisbane Lions v Essendon Bombers; Gabba; scores; results; fixtures; teams; tips; games; how to watch
Chris Fagan says the Lions have been working on readjusting to life after the retirement of key forward Joe Daniher.
The Brisbane coach said they needed to improve their conversion rate once they moved the ball inside the 50m arc.
Hugh McCluggage of the Lions gets a kick.Credit: AFL Photos
“It’s something we’ve been working on pretty hard at training,” Fagan told Fox Footy.
“Our forward line’s probably been our most disrupted line this year, too, with injuries – Charlie Cameron’s missed a few, Kai Lohmann hasn’t played all that much, Logan Morris missed a game or two, and obviously, Joey’s not there any more.
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“So it’s taking us a little while to get that connection. But I feel like the last couple of weeks, it’s starting to improve.“
Fagan also praised the form of midfielder Hugh McCluggage.
“I think he’s a really underestimated player, and he’s one of those blokes that keeps working on his game,” he said.
“I think if you have a look at him, statistically this year he’s improved his clearance work. I think he had 11 last week, and his actual tackle pressure has gone through the roof.
“I hope at some point he’s good enough to be selected as an All-Australian, not that it’s all about individual things, but he’s one bloke that if he did, you’d say, ‘well, he’s deserved that because he’s been pretty close for a long time’.”
Fagan said the club was not tempted to rest players off a five-day break for the Essendon clash, but would consider that approach later in the season.
“Everybody pulled up well from the game last week,” he said. “If someone had been a little bit dicey, we definitely would have made that call, but as it turned out we didn’t have any injuries from the game.“
Fagan said the Lions would try and deny Essendon the ball in the Bombers’ back end by limiting their uncontested marks.
“I think they use that as a form of defence, in a way to possess the ball. So I’d like to think we can force them along down the line quite regularly tonight,” he said.
