The winless Lions have an “unresolved issue” in their front half, according to Kangaroos legend David King, as their star forwards struggled to fire in Thursday night’s 20-point loss to Collingwood.
Brisbane won the inside 50 count 56-43 in the grand final rematch at the Gabba, but took just six marks in its forward 50 as gun talls Joe Daniher (one goal) and Eric Hipwood (goalless) were well held by the Magpies defence.
It included the Lions dominating the second quarter – a period it kept Collingwood scoreless and won the inside 50 count 21-2 – but only added four goals to its total from nine scoring shots.
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“We had enough entries to win the game, but we weren’t able to turn those entires into marks and scores,” Lions coach Chris Fagan told reporters post match.
“A lot of those were in that second quarter, we had a big number of inside 50s. The ball lived at our end and that’s where all the numbers were, so that made it a little harder to score.”
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Speaking on Fox Footy post-match, King said he believes it more had to do with the attacking method of Fagan’s side, who fell to 0-3 to start the season.
“There’s an issue there still unresolved. I know it’s an easy target for us to go to Hipwood and Daniher, when they fail, they seem to draw all the heat,” King said.
“I do think there’s a responsibility for the coaching staff to look at how they bring the ball forward of centre and how they move the ball. It is wide and safe.
“I know they love going to contest, but Darcy Moore knew where it was going before the forwards knew it was going.
“When they started to bring it into the middle, that’s when they looked their most alert and alive and you started thinking they were going to mount a comeback.”
Dunstall meanwhile questioned the forward “structure” of Daniher and Hipwood and their inability to take “easy” marks on the lead.
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“Let’s talk about Daniher and Hipwood, because I think they’d both put their hand up and say: ‘(We were) extremely disappointing tonight’,” he said.
“But it’s the way they structure going inside, they want those deep kicks. We saw Daniher at one stage lead up get the easy little chip kick and he went back and kicked his goal.
“They don’t lead though, they just call for long kicks. That’s so hard if you’re gong to go by the numbers of pack marks and marks over the top instead of some of those easy ones on the lead
“That would concern me in the forward 50 if I’m a Lions player.
“You can’t just always say: ‘Let’s kick it long because it’s better to defend from there.’ They didn’t defend that well from there.”
King suggested the decision to bring in Darcy Fort as the third tall didn’t work, with the big man finishing with 10 disposals, two marks and no goals.
“Interesting at selection they’ve played the third tall forward of centre, which (Dunstall) said in the pre-game would have no effect. Guess what? It had no effect,” King said.
“They’ve gone to Daniher 10 times and Hipwood seven times. That’s great supply and really good opportunity, (but) Daniher takes the one mark and Hipwood doesn’t take one at all. It’s a problem.
“They’ve got (Cam) Rayner, who I think is that third tall forward. He’s a better commodity than Darcy Fort.”
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Asked in his press conference about the call to play the extra tall forward, Fagan said: “We had three talls in the first game and we had three talls tonight.”
Further probed about his team’s tactics, the Lions coach responded: “They’re the players we’ve got. That’s something to think about during the week, not discuss at press conferences, to be honest. The question is fair and reasonable.
“There’s a lot of green on this stat sheet tonight and that’s been almost the frustrating part about it – we’ve won inside 50s in every game we’ve played this year and normally when we win inside 50s, we win (the game). For some reason or another we’re not.
“The first game we marked it inside 50 pretty well, but the last two weeks that’s dried up. We’re usually pretty good at winning drop of the ball, but that’s been inconsistent.
“The answer’s not obvious.”
The Lions coach admitted there was a “challenge” in getting some of their best players including Charlie Cameron and Hipwood back to their best form.
“You talk to them about what they’re good at and reinforce that. Form comes and goes, it can go but it can come back Just positivity but honesty as well,” he said.
“These guys have been good players so we won’t be pressing the panic button. I’ve trusted them for a long time and they’ve delivered, so I’m not going to jump off them just because we’ve lost three games in a row.
“We’ve turned up and played pretty well for the last five or six years and right now we’re having a little slump. That’s the life of a team, sometimes you go through a form slump and I’ve got to help them find their form again, that’s my job.”
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