by Booney » Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:57 am
*Late review - Iso took over for 48 hours there*
If the first half on Saturday night wasn’t a sign of things to come then nothing was. Both sides struggled to show any system moving the ball forward as the pressure of round 1 and genuine opposition took its toll on the skills by both hand and foot with the contest at time descending to beyond scrappy and at times unwatchable. The second half is something I’d rather have not watched at all if I’m honest.
Brisbane led two goals to one at ¼ time with former Geelong forward Darcy Fort bagging two for the Lions and a late reply from Boak being the only majors it looked as though the Lions had more options when it came to hitting the scoreboard. Houston started well for Port, as did Burton, Butters and SPP who was showing the level of intent we expect. The Lions however had the better of the term with the last 4 F50 entries and certainly looked more dangerous going forward. At the stage we’d lost Duursma to what looked to be a broken collar bone and Motlop had been injected into the game.
Momentum swung quickly at the start of the second term, Port had the first 5 F50 entries as Butters and Wines cleared the ball from the middle and as Amon slotted one from long range Port got something going. Adams was holding firm in the key defensive post for Brisbane so the smalls had to get involved, Bonner’s little give, go and shepherd to allow Houston to goal was important, Marshall popped up with a mark and goal and Port were transitioning well from defence, 2 of those goals came from kick ins. Rozee added one to make it 5 goals to 4 at half time but as the players left the field Duursma was subbed out and Aliir hadn’t been seen for some time after rolling an ankle. Port looked to be 2 down. At half time Houston was leading the way with 16 touches at 76%. It was tight, but I felt we had the better of the play.
When Powell-Pepper, Georgiades ( who went of briefly with an injury concern ) and Motlop all goaled as a result of Brisbane turnovers to start the third term and we skipped out to a 25 point lead the night was looking to be a positive one. Both sides upped the anti, Daniher and Bailey goaled either side of a Willem Drew major and a 15 point ¾ time lead was ours, would it be enough?
In a word, no. Daniher soon had his third and fourth majors, McCarthy chipped in with two and Lycett, out on his feet, lost McInerney who went forward to help Brisbane to 5 goals to 1 for the term to over run Port by 11 points. The last term was a horror show. Aliir, on one leg, had a completely excusable howler back pedaling into defence and with McKenzie down with what looked to be a major knee injury the back half was left depleted and the midfield out on it’s feet. Daniher, McCarthy and McInerney took advantage of that undersized back half and kicked 4 of the Lions 5 final term goals.
No loss is fun. No loss is acceptable. There needs to be some diagnosis though and for the best part of ¾ Port either broke even or held sway. Late on the third we looked flat, particularly in the middle where Lycett was on his heels at every contest, Finalyson offers some support but it looks like Dixon will need to play more time as a 2nd ruck option as the year unfolds ( I don’t see Hayes and Lycett both playing ), defensively we were down to Jonas as the only fit big man in defence with McKenzie down and Aliir hobbled leaving us exposed. Some errors in the last were costly, Drew streaming forward to a 3 on 1 and picking out the 1 was telling, he’s growing and mistakes like that will become less prevalent as he develops his attacking game, defensively he is elite.
Boon’s best – Houston, Burton, Boak, Amon, Wines, Butters
Onto the Hawks on Saturday night, unfortunately I’m in isolation and will miss the tribute to the great Russell Ebert, it pains me to miss is but I’ll take a leaf out of Russell’s book and stay home, do the right thing by the community and remember there’s always someone worse off than me.
PAFC. Forever.
LOOK OUT, WE'RE COMING!