Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has welcomed the return of Dayne Zorko for Friday evening’s Gabba conflict with Melbourne however says the Lions want extra than simply their former skipper to erase the embarrassment of their first-round shocker in opposition to Port Adelaide.
Having overcome a hamstring harm, veteran Zorko is about to supply “energy” and “flexibility” to a Lions aspect in want of some inspiration after dropping by 54 factors at Adelaide Oval final Saturday.
“’Zorks’ at his best, (with) his pressure and ball use … (he) brings energy and is quite flexible – it’s good to have him back,” Fagan stated.
However, Fagan warned {that a} mere wave of the “Magician” Zorko’s wand wouldn’t be the only remedy of Brisbane’s first-round issues.“We were missing just about everything in our game last week,” he stated.
“We could have spent three weeks reviewing and reteaching our players the game plan after last week, but we all know that was just a once-off occasion.
“Our blokes know how to play. If they come to the game with the required amount of energy and edge, then you’ll see a different team.”
Fagan was removed from panicking about Brisbane’s poor begin to the season.
“Round 1 is a bit like grand final week. There’s so much build-up to the season, and the winners are grinners and the losers, their season is in tatters allegedly,” he stated.
“We don’t quite look at it that way. There are a lot of games of footy to go.”
Apart from searching for redemption for final weekend’s heavy defeat, the Lions have the added motivation to show that final season’s finals win over the Demons on the MCG wasn’t a fortunate victory.
“There are probably a lot of people in the footy world that maybe think that win was a bit of a fluke last year, so we’re out to prove that we are actually a pretty good football side, and more than anything else we just want to respond to last week,” Fagan stated.
“It’s no good me standing here telling you what I hope I’m going to see. It’s better off them to go and do it and we’ll talk about it later.”
Despite the magnitude of the match, the Lions-Demons conflict isn’t the largest ticket in Brisbane on Friday evening, with the Dolphins-Broncos NRL battle at Suncorp Stadium having been the discuss of the city.
Not that Fagan’s listening.
“I didn’t even realise,” he stated.
“In the ideal world it’d be a nice spread for sporting lovers if fixtures can be spread across the course of a weekend.
“I thought our fans would turn up to our game, (and) their fans turn up to their game.
“There might be some people that follow both codes scratching their heads about where to go. It’s good to have plenty of buzz and activity.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
