Lions star Lachie Neale is about to be “managed” by means of the rest of Brisbane’s pre-season marketing campaign after struggling a corked quad and dislocated finger in his facet’s 45-point win over the Sydney Swans on Friday.
The 2020 Brownlow medallist didn’t play within the closing quarter of Brisbane’s spectacular 15.9 (99) to eight.6 (54) observe match win in Sydney.
The Lions have one pre-season conflict remaining – subsequent Thursday’s assembly with reigning premiers Geelong – and a cautious strategy is more likely to be taken with Neale to make sure he’s absolutely match for Brisbane’s spherical one conflict with Port Adelaide on March 18.
“We’re trying to manage him through … round one’s a couple of weeks away,” Lions assistant coach Jed Adcock mentioned.
Neale was a part of a dominant midfield show on Friday, with father-son choose Will Ashcroft the standout in Brisbane’s engine room.
“He’s a great kid. He’s ultra competitive and ultra professional. We’re very lucky to have him,” Adcock mentioned of the son of Lions nice Marcus Ashcroft.
Another low season recruit to impress was former Hawthorn ahead Jack Gunston, who kicked three targets.
“Jack’s a smart player,” Adcock mentioned.
“He’s played in three premierships, so when you add players like that to your list, it’s quality.
“The club’s done a great job with the list over the last few years.
The Lions also continued their pre-season experimentation of using Cam Rayner across the half-back line.
“He’s trained there so that’s an option for us,” Adcock mentioned.
“We spoke at the start of pre-season about giving him some flexibility and seeing how he went at half-back. He played a lot of half-back as a junior.
“We’re always trying to give all our players options to play multiple positions. He’s played there most of the pre-season and looked quite solid.”
Adcock described Brisbane’s win – which was arrange by a medical third-quarter efficiency which included 5 targets to Sydney’s none – as a “nice performance”.
“It was nice to come up against quality opposition in Sydney, and then next week we’ve got Geelong as well,” he mentioned.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
