Reaction key after Lions' rare QClash fizzer
The defending premiers are yet to officially book their finals ticket after falling to 13-5-1, thanks to a humbling 66-point loss to the Suns on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The 20.10 (130) to 9.10 (64) romp was the Suns' biggest derby win and gave them a club-best 12 wins this season as they seek a maiden finals foray.
Usually dominant in the midfield, the Lions were outgunned as ruckman Jarrod Witts provided good service to Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Alex Davies.
It was only the Suns' second win in the past 14 QClash contests.
Fagan estimated fans "wouldn't have seen a performance like that too often in the past six years".
"Our last eight games we've won six and lost two. We've been up for a fair while and tonight we were really poor in every facet of the game, to be honest," he said.
The Lions face table-topping Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday, then host Sydney, travel to face Fremantle and finish the regular season at the Gabba against Hawthorn.
"It is hard to stay up every week, there's no doubt about that," Fagan said.
"That's part and parcel of the challenge.
"How you reflect on it really is how you react next week and how you play next week.
"We've got a pretty hard game ... I'm confident our group will respond, they normally do."
Utility Conor McKenna, who had won his spot back in the side this week, will have scans after being substituted at halftime with a hamstring injury.
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has reason to believe the side's QClash fizzer against Gold Coast was an anomaly as focus quickly shifts on their tough run to September.
The defending premiers are yet to officially book their finals ticket after falling to 13-5-1, thanks to a humbling 66-point loss to the Suns on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The 20.10 (130) to 9.10 (64) romp was the Suns' biggest derby win and gave them a club-best 12 wins this season as they seek a maiden finals foray.
Usually dominant in the midfield, the Lions were outgunned as ruckman Jarrod Witts provided good service to Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Alex Davies.
It was only the Suns' second win in the past 14 QClash contests.
Fagan estimated fans "wouldn't have seen a performance like that too often in the past six years".
"Our last eight games we've won six and lost two. We've been up for a fair while and tonight we were really poor in every facet of the game, to be honest," he said.
The Lions face table-topping Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday, then host Sydney, travel to face Fremantle and finish the regular season at the Gabba against Hawthorn.
"It is hard to stay up every week, there's no doubt about that," Fagan said.
"That's part and parcel of the challenge.
"How you reflect on it really is how you react next week and how you play next week.
"We've got a pretty hard game ... I'm confident our group will respond, they normally do."
Utility Conor McKenna, who had won his spot back in the side this week, will have scans after being substituted at halftime with a hamstring injury.
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has reason to believe the side's QClash fizzer against Gold Coast was an anomaly as focus quickly shifts on their tough run to September.
The defending premiers are yet to officially book their finals ticket after falling to 13-5-1, thanks to a humbling 66-point loss to the Suns on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The 20.10 (130) to 9.10 (64) romp was the Suns' biggest derby win and gave them a club-best 12 wins this season as they seek a maiden finals foray.
Usually dominant in the midfield, the Lions were outgunned as ruckman Jarrod Witts provided good service to Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Alex Davies.
It was only the Suns' second win in the past 14 QClash contests.
Fagan estimated fans "wouldn't have seen a performance like that too often in the past six years".
"Our last eight games we've won six and lost two. We've been up for a fair while and tonight we were really poor in every facet of the game, to be honest," he said.
The Lions face table-topping Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday, then host Sydney, travel to face Fremantle and finish the regular season at the Gabba against Hawthorn.
"It is hard to stay up every week, there's no doubt about that," Fagan said.
"That's part and parcel of the challenge.
"How you reflect on it really is how you react next week and how you play next week.
"We've got a pretty hard game ... I'm confident our group will respond, they normally do."
Utility Conor McKenna, who had won his spot back in the side this week, will have scans after being substituted at halftime with a hamstring injury.
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The Advertiser
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I can play my own game; I know what I can do." Davies played just seven AFL games in Hardwick's first year at the club in 2024 and had to settle for VFL domination this season until getting the call-up on Saturday. The Suns' midfield is stacked with Rowell, injured Touk Miller and captain Noah Anderson well supported by Bailey Humphrey and emerging trio Will Graham, Leo Lombard and Jake Rogers. Contracted until the end of next season, Davies said he was "shocked" to read reports last week that he was open to an earlier move to a rival club for greater opportunities. But, while insistent he was settled and happy at Carrara, the Cairns product didn't deny it. "All my mates sent it to me and I was like, 'What's going on?'," he said of the report. "The job at hand is getting to finals because it's a special opportunity we have right now and all I'm thinking about." Hardwick admitted Davies' selection was partly a horses for courses approach against a Lions midfield that had overpowered his own in recent outings. "The definition of insanity is … we didn't want to be having the same conversation if we lost the same way," he said, having also recalled Jy Farrar and Nick Holman. "It's taken me a bit of time to understand what that looks like against Brisbane. "They all stood up ... he's (Davies) only starting to understand what he may be and get an understanding of where he can end up." With the Suns now on the cusp of a maiden finals campaign - and potentially a top-four finish - Davies may be cottoning on to what's possible quicker than Hardwick realises. "A win like that ... it's pretty big and beating Brisbane, it's a big challenge," he said ahead of Saturday's clash with Richmond. "If we can do that .. we can go anywhere." Admitting his sleep's "been sucking" during the Tour de France, Alex Davies sheepishly felt like a domestique in his AFL return for Gold Coast. A fan of Tadej Pogacar, who claimed a fourth Tour title on Sunday, the big-bodied Davies insists he can be the footballing equivalent of the Slovenian star and win his own ball. The 23-year-old's 30 touches and 10 tackles in the Suns' historic 66-point defeat of the Brisbane Lions on Saturday showed that. But it was the 191cm midfielder's work on Josh Dunkley - designed to free Suns star Matt Rowell - that he was picked for. And Davies delivered as a footballing domestique - French for servant - as best-on-ground Rowell finished with 37 touches, 15 clearances and 12 tackles. "Domestique," Davies offered with a laugh, when asked if he felt like a Suns hit-man or bodyguard. "My sleep's been so bad, been sucking (while watching the Tour). "But yeh, a big body ... helping Rowelly. But I can get my own footy ... 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Hardwick admitted Davies' selection was partly a horses for courses approach against a Lions midfield that had overpowered his own in recent outings. "The definition of insanity is … we didn't want to be having the same conversation if we lost the same way," he said, having also recalled Jy Farrar and Nick Holman. "It's taken me a bit of time to understand what that looks like against Brisbane. "They all stood up ... he's (Davies) only starting to understand what he may be and get an understanding of where he can end up." With the Suns now on the cusp of a maiden finals campaign - and potentially a top-four finish - Davies may be cottoning on to what's possible quicker than Hardwick realises. "A win like that ... it's pretty big and beating Brisbane, it's a big challenge," he said ahead of Saturday's clash with Richmond. "If we can do that .. we can go anywhere." 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'Domestique' embraces grunt work in Suns' tour de force
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Australian relay teams win gold on day one of world swimming championships
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"It's so good to be part of a relay team that's so young and hungry and eager to have success in LA like I am," Chalmers said. "We've won bronze, bronze, silver, I really desperately want to win a gold medal in a few years' time." Southam said the goal for himself, Taylor and Giuliani "was just to give Kyle a punter's hope". "And we all did our job extraordinarily well, but we came together and represented the country, so there's no greater honour, I think, and to do it in a relay is so much more special than an individual event," Southam said. Giuliani said the result, on the first day of the swimming competition in Singapore, was "unbelievable". "We spoke about it the first day we came together on staging … and to deliver on that in great fashion — I mean championship record [and] we weren't too far off the world record," he said. "I think we've got a whole lot of potential in this team." The women's race was equally dramatic. 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"It was a pleasure to race the Olympic champion, world record holder and now world champion, so I knew he was going to be a tough opponent. "I'm really proud of how hard I pushed myself and you know, .02, it's not the end of the world, silver medal, I get to get back on the podium and long meet to come." He said the result was some consolation after a disappointing campaign at the Paris Olympic Games, where he was a chance to win the gold medal in the 400m freestyle but narrowly missed bronze in the final. He then missed the finals of the 800m and 1500m and dubbed his Olympic Games "a failure". As to why he swam slower in the evening than his morning time, which would have won gold, he said in hindsight he could have gone slower in his heat swim. "I felt comfortable this morning, I actually felt I could have gone 3:40 this morning," he said. "So, you know just a high-pressure environment, backing that up, small turnaround and also a great field as well. "When I was with him with 100 to go, I knew it was going to be a dogfight — he's a pretty good level, he's the world record holder. "I knew I wasn't going to be pulling away and I was hurting as well. "I've got a good finish on me, and it wasn't quite good enough today." Short still has swims in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events and the men's 4x200m freestyle relay. In the women's 400m freestyle final, Lani Pallister was in second until the 250m mark, but faded to finish fourth behind world record holder Summer McIntosh. China's Bingjie Li was second, with US veteran Katie Ledecky in third. McIntosh's campaign to claim five individual gold medals at a world championships is on track and while her time of 3:56.26 is more than two seconds slower than the world record she set earlier this year, it was still two seconds faster than Li. Pallister's time of 3:58.87 was a personal best. "I think fourth is a bit shit, but if it's fourth and a PB you can't really ask for more," Pallister said. Pallister said a young girl from Singapore had given her a pin with a picture of her when she was five. She said she was looking at the pin as she made her way into the pool on Sunday night. "That little girl would think that I was like the coolest person in the world, to be standing in that final, let alone being fourth," she said. Another Australian, Pallister's lifelong friend Jamie Perkins, was sixth in a personal best time of 4:03.2. Perkins said she was "pretty disappointed", despite the personal best time, but said she was learning. "I'm still young, so see what we get moving forward," Perkins said.
