Plenty of positives for Lions in loss to Hawthorn
(Andrew Hamilton | April 21, 2008 12:00am)
The glass-half-full brigade would have found plenty to like about Brisbane's loss to Hawthorn.
The half-empties would have been mourning a wasted opportunity to launch the club on the road to September by claiming a big name scalp. All of them would have agreed on one matter - it was a cracking contest and thrilling spectacle.
It was fast, had just the right amount of argy-bargy and two glamour forwards put on a clinic.
Lance "Buddy" Franklin lit up the Gabba with eight goals while Daniel Bradshaw would have reminded many old Hawks fans of Garry Ablett's '89 grand final performance by booting seven goals in a losing cause.
Even Lions coach Leigh Matthews will one day look back on his side's 12-point loss and see it was the perfect advertisement for football.
But Matthews' ambassadorial duties don't extend to match days and all the four-time premiership coach would have taken from the game was that his side needs to improve on some of the basics of football before it will deliver him his fifth.
A two-goal margin proves this game could have gone either way.
But it wasn't bad luck the Lions lost, it was poor skills and inexcusable turnovers that cost them.
Hawthorn had slightly more possessions, but not nearly enough to guarantee victory, the clearances were a dead heat and there was nothing in the inside fifties.
Jamie Charman turning the ball over with a "Harlem Globetrotter" handball over his head at half forward that ended in a goal to the Hawks seconds later, killed Brisbane.
So did Daniel Merrett coughing up some poor handballs under pressure in the defensive 50 and the pair weren't alone, almost every player was guilty of poor decisions or sloppy skills at some stage.
"Composure with ball in hands enables you to make better decisions and if you make the right decisions then its a matter of skills execution," Matthews said.
"It shows we have some ground to make up against the very best."
Matthews struggled to conceal his disappointment after the game because had Brisbane played to its potential, it could be sitting at 3-2 with the lowly Demons to come.
"I thought we were OK, we made half a dozen errors, it is not the same players every week, but in a tight game against good opposition, I'm disappointed," he said.
"We weren't far off the game, but a lot of our individual players were below their capabilities.
"And when we do our club champion votes, there will be a lot of players who will rate well below what they are capable of.
"The fact we were able to push the undefeated ladder leaders and have not that many who actually did what they are capable of, gives us hope."
And although Franklin's stunning eight goal display will be the lasting memory, Matthews doesn't believe it was the reason Hawthorn were able to remain undefeated.
"I thought we were solid, their gun forward had a spectacular night, but one of our gun forwards had a pretty spectacular night too, that evened it out," he said.
"The rest of the game was a high scoring game and quite a spectacle I would have thought, our scoring was good we kicked 17 goals but we allowed them, apart from Franklin's eight, to kick another 11.
"I wasn't too pleased with our defensive set up, our defenders and blokes up field."
The glass-half-full brigade would have found plenty to like about Brisbane's loss to Hawthorn.
The half-empties would have been mourning a wasted opportunity to launch the club on the road to September by claiming a big name scalp. All of them would have agreed on one matter - it was a cracking contest and thrilling spectacle.
It was fast, had just the right amount of argy-bargy and two glamour forwards put on a clinic.
Lance "Buddy" Franklin lit up the Gabba with eight goals while Daniel Bradshaw would have reminded many old Hawks fans of Garry Ablett's '89 grand final performance by booting seven goals in a losing cause.
Even Lions coach Leigh Matthews will one day look back on his side's 12-point loss and see it was the perfect advertisement for football.
But Matthews' ambassadorial duties don't extend to match days and all the four-time premiership coach would have taken from the game was that his side needs to improve on some of the basics of football before it will deliver him his fifth.
A two-goal margin proves this game could have gone either way.
But it wasn't bad luck the Lions lost, it was poor skills and inexcusable turnovers that cost them.
Hawthorn had slightly more possessions, but not nearly enough to guarantee victory, the clearances were a dead heat and there was nothing in the inside fifties.
Jamie Charman turning the ball over with a "Harlem Globetrotter" handball over his head at half forward that ended in a goal to the Hawks seconds later, killed Brisbane.
So did Daniel Merrett coughing up some poor handballs under pressure in the defensive 50 and the pair weren't alone, almost every player was guilty of poor decisions or sloppy skills at some stage.
"Composure with ball in hands enables you to make better decisions and if you make the right decisions then its a matter of skills execution," Matthews said.
"It shows we have some ground to make up against the very best."
Matthews struggled to conceal his disappointment after the game because had Brisbane played to its potential, it could be sitting at 3-2 with the lowly Demons to come.
"I thought we were OK, we made half a dozen errors, it is not the same players every week, but in a tight game against good opposition, I'm disappointed," he said.
"We weren't far off the game, but a lot of our individual players were below their capabilities.
"And when we do our club champion votes, there will be a lot of players who will rate well below what they are capable of.
"The fact we were able to push the undefeated ladder leaders and have not that many who actually did what they are capable of, gives us hope."
And although Franklin's stunning eight goal display will be the lasting memory, Matthews doesn't believe it was the reason Hawthorn were able to remain undefeated.
"I thought we were solid, their gun forward had a spectacular night, but one of our gun forwards had a pretty spectacular night too, that evened it out," he said.
"The rest of the game was a high scoring game and quite a spectacle I would have thought, our scoring was good we kicked 17 goals but we allowed them, apart from Franklin's eight, to kick another 11.
"I wasn't too pleased with our defensive set up, our defenders and blokes up field."