Chris Fagan is assured his Brisbane Lions facet have already got the cattle to fill the void left by injured rookie Will Aschroft, flagging extra midfield time for a number of his stars towards Gold Coast.
A season-ending knee harm to the Rising Star favorite throughout final weekend’s conflict with Geelong has been a heavy blow for the Lions, not to mention {the teenager} himself.
But the coach’s response on the choice desk forward of Saturday’s journey to the Suns was telling, Fagan recalling small ahead Kai Lohmann slightly than one other midfielder.
“He’s just been knocking on the door, we can use other players in our midfield to replace Will,” Fagan mentioned of 20-year-old Lohmann, who will play his fifth AFL recreation of the season.
Fagan mentioned Jarrod Berry, Hugh McCluggage, Cam Rayner and former captain Dayne Zorko would all see extra time within the engine room after Ashcroft ruptured his proper anterior cruciate ligament final weekend.
“We’ve got got a quite few guys that can play more minutes in there … Kai can help us up forward and in and around midfield as well, but it won’t change the way we play,” Fagan mentioned.
Fit-again captain Zorko’s defensive strain had returned to it is trademark stage, prompting his return to the midfield, the coach added.
Brisbane led by simply 5 factors within the ultimate quarter once they met the Suns earlier this 12 months, earlier than operating out 43-point winners on the Gabba to notch a ninth-straight win towards their Queensland rivals.
Gold Coast have since light out of the finals calculations however Fagan mentioned there could be no complacency as Brisbane hunt a top-two end.
“They’ve beaten some really good sides … sides in the eight now or vying for a position, so it speaks volumes for what they’re capable of,” he mentioned.
“If they bring their best they’ll be very hard to beat.”
The Lions additionally confirmed a two-year contract extension for back-up ruckman Darcy Fort, who has performed 24 AFL video games since arriving from Geelong final 12 months.
Gold Coast have made two modifications to the facet that misplaced to the Giants final weekend, Malcolm Rosas and Sean Lemmens changing Ben Long and Hewago Oea.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
