West Coast coach Adam Simpson’s declaration that the Lions have been the AFL premiership favourites wasn’t what his Brisbane counterpart Chris Fagan needed to listen to after his aspect’s 81-point demolition of the Eagles on the Gabba on Saturday.
The Lions have been by no means troubled of their 16.20 (116) to five.5 (35) thrashing of the last-placed Eagles.
And the margin ought to have been extra, with Brisbane lacking a number of excellent possibilities in entrance of purpose.
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But aside from that, the Lions had little to complain about in a efficiency that additional cemented Simpson’s perception that Brisbane was the most effective staff within the competitors regardless of being third on the ladder behind Collingwood and Port Adelaide.
“They’re my favourites,” premiership-winning coach Simpson stated of the Lions.
“Their style of play is so honest, and they’re defending better, from my point of view, behind the ball.
“They’ve got talent as well, and they’re all committed, so it looks like they’ve clicked to another gear.
“I’ve talked them up too much. ‘Fages’ (Fagan) won’t like me doing that but it’s just how I feel.
“He’ll talk them down no doubt, but they’re going all right.”
Fagan appeared shocked by Simpson’s feedback.
“Simmo did, did he? Damn Simmo, he shouldn’t say that,” Fagan stated with a slight chuckle.
“We’re good friends from our Hawthorn days. He said that did he?
“Well I don’t agree. I think Collingwood are the best team in the competition. I don’t think we are. I think we’ve got work to do still.”
However, Fagan did agree with Simpson that the Lions had improved defensively.
“It has been good for the last month or so … but we’ve got to keep going,” the Lions coach stated.
“It’s really reliant on pressure up the field, too.”
The Lions put the match to mattress early on Saturday, main 45-0 at one stage after kicking the competition’s first seven targets.
“We came to the game wanting to put the game out of their reach as quickly as we possibly could, and I thought we did that in the first quarter,” Fagan stated.
“That was important. A young team like them just want to get a little bit of hope on the road.
“We were aware of that, so I thought it was a really professional performance.
“Early in the game, (it was) all about our pressure, our tackling, our hunt – everything was where we wanted it to be.
“For the rest of the day, outside of inaccuracy, that was a pretty strong even performance across four quarters.”
A spotlight of the match was Jack Gunston kicking six targets in his return to Brisbane’s staff after being dropped following the Lions’ loss to Hawthorn on June 10.
“I think you saw today a bit more of what Jack’s capable of but he’s got to keep doing it. There are sterner tests ahead, but … he moved a whole lot better than what he was before he had a month off.
“Hopefully it’s done him some good. Kicking a few goals will certainly help his confidence. Not only did he kick himself, but he assisted in creating opportunities for others, so (it was) a good outcome.”
Source: www.news.com.au
