Brisbane's star-studded midfield intent on bouncing back from ‘embarrassing' display
The Lions are still licking their wounds after their 66-point weekend loss to the Suns, whose midfielders completely dominated their Brisbane counterparts that included two-time Brownlow medallist Neale, Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft, Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage.
'(It was) certainly hard to watch,' Neale said in reflecting on the Lions' review of their performance at People First Stadium.
'More so the embarrassing clips that is not usual for us as a midfield group … we knew that was coming.
'It was a bit of a kick in the teeth. As a midfield group, they certainly lowered our colours across all four quarters. It's not usually the way we go about it … (but) it was good to see some of that stuff.
'Sometimes you can brush over it and try to forget about it and move on, but I think at this time of year to have a performance like that wasn't acceptable.
'We had to face the music and look at some of that stuff and learn from it and get better.
'You learn more from your losses than your wins, and when you win a few in a row, sometimes you can get a little bit comfortable and happy with how you're going, and some things that might slip through the cracks get shown when you lose.'
The Lions had won four successive games before their weekend loss, with Neale suggesting there would be no better way to regain winning form than by beating the first-placed Magpies at the home of football.
'It's a great time for us to play them and test ourselves against the best,' he said.
'If we can bounce back and play our best footy, it's going to be a great game, a cracking contest.
'We look forward to hopefully producing some really good footy, and we know that Collingwood will bring that as well, so it should be a fantastic game for both sets of fans and for both clubs.'
The Lions were in second spot before their game against the Suns but are now third, and depending on other results this weekend, could fall to as low as seventh if they lose to the Magpies.
However, Neale said the reigning premiers weren't looking at the ladder.
'You just don't know what's going to happen week-to-week in this competition, so it's full focus on Collingwood,' he said.
'We knew going into the season it was going to be tight. It was the same last year. We finished fifth last year, and we're able to make a run, so we'll try to finish as high as we can.
'We're not caught up too much in where that is at the moment. We just want to try to win (every match) from here, and it starts with Collingwood on the weekend.
'We go into every game trying to come up with a plan to win that week, and we'll just keep doing that, and where we end up, we probably deserve.'
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The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Gold Coast Suns weigh future of lucrative Darwin deal amid finals push
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The Advertiser
10 hours ago
- The Advertiser
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'Here we are, fighting for our lives'. "There are little things that we can look at straight away and go, 'We can fix that - we can fix that'. McRae was asked if he had had any more contact with Carlton defender Jack Silvagni. After saying last week he had met with Silvagni, who is about to come out of contract, McRae did not want to add to the issue. "I will leave that alone - I think I've said enough," he said. Meanwhile, captain James Sicily's return to form looms as a massive factor for Hawthorn against the Magpies. AFL commentator and former Magpies coach Nathan Buckley noted Harris Andrews was a major headache for Collingwood last Saturday night as the star Brisbane defender repeatedly thwarted their long kicks into attack. Sicily can have a similar impact to Andrews at the MCG. "They just couldn't score off their long-down-the-lines (kicks). They usually score two in three. Harris Andrews absolutely controlled that aspect of the game," Buckley told Fox Footy's On The Couch. "If you have a player who can control that aspect against Collingwood, you're going to be well-and-truly in the match." Key defender Jeremy Howe will make a welcome return for Collingwood in Thursday night's AFL blockbuster against Hawthorn. But small forward Bobby Hill, who returned from several games out in last week's loss to Brisbane, could be an absentee again because of illness. Coach Craig McRae said another tall backman, Billy Frampton, was also closing on a return after strong VFL form. The Magpies have lost three of their past four games and Howe has been sidelined since round 19 with a groin injury. Frampton has recovered from a calf injury. "Jeremy will definitely play, he got through (training) today well," McRae said. "Billy's name will come up into consideration, yep. I loved his game (in) the VFL, really enjoyed that. He performed well. "He'll put some question marks at match committee around his magnet." McRae added Hill, the 2023 Norm Smith Medallist, had gastro. 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The Australian
12 hours ago
- The Australian
Demons players 'blindsided' as coach Simon Goodwin shown the door
It took Melbourne exactly six weeks to crumble around Simon Goodwin. On February 28, interim president Brad Green provided the strongest endorsement of his premiership coach's capabilities, knowing the club needed a bridging year to change the game style and personnel in 2025. Off-field grenades had been going off for years in the boardroom and there was a split around the futures of superstar midfielders Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca. But as the summer of love concluded at Melbourne five months ago, Green hit out at the coach's critics and declared emphatically 'We have got a beauty. Players love him. He is very smart and strategic. He is a deep-thinker of the game, and he is emotive.' 'It annoys me and frustrates me that he doesn't get the respect and kudos he deserves. 'It sh-ts me, actually, that this industry bags Simon Goodwin. He gets battered and bruised by everyone.' 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Another said it was 'embarrassing'. Captain Max Gawn looked forlorn. Melbourne blinked this week because it didn't want the heat that would come next year with a coach out of contract in the same way Western Bulldogs stared directly into the fire and delayed a call on Luke Beveridge's future this year. At the start of this season, Goodwin was given the imprimatur to make considerable changes to the game plan and team mix. 'A new way', Goodwin declared at the annual general meeting in December. And the coach thought he had another season in 2026, as per his contract, to complete the work. For all the team's disappointing performances this year, they still beat Fremantle at the MCG in round 6, knocked off Brisbane at the Gabba by 11 points, hammered Sydney Swans and fell one point short of Collingwood. Clearly, the team was in transition, and few experts had Melbourne in their top-eights at the start of the season. Simply, Melbourne knew themselves the team was not a quick fix this year after blowing its chances in back-to-back top-four finishes in 2022-23 and sinking down the ladder last year without Petracca, who played on with life-threatening injuries on King's Birthday and was taken to the wrong hospital. What a stuff-up, but there's a long list. The game had sped past the Demons since the 2021 premiership and the inability to convert in the forward half has been maddening for the coaches and players this season. But this is also a team with 33-year-old veteran Jake Melksham playing at centre half forward this season. But if the Demons had underperformed on the field, just as many mistakes have come off it at a club which former coach Paul Roos once said was surrounded by a 'veil of negativity'. At senior level, it had been a disastrous couple of seasons including the diabolical handling of Oliver who was put up for trade and then clawed back, Petracca's life-threatening injuries, Joel Smith's drugs charge, the facility disaster, Kate Roffey's radio interview downfall and the Glen Bartlett boardroom brawl. 'There has been a real heaviness and it seeps into your footy club,' Goodwin told the Herald Sun in February. So if Melbourne's on-field performance since the flag had disappointed the board, a quick glance in the mirror would have revealed an abysmal scorecard for the directors as well. And Goodwin pointedly said on repeat in the press conference on Tuesday teams needed off-field stability to flourish. And that is exactly what he has lacked. It was a classy exit from a man who has had four separate presidents (including Steve Smith from Tuscany) and three CEOs. The off-field leaders at Melbourne have made the most wobbly-looking Jenga towers look more stable than their own setup in recent times. And it was in Adelaide that Melbourne's Jenga tower came crashing down less than two months after Green's February love letter to his coach. But by the time the Demons had lost in Gather Round, they had done the biggest six week backflip. They'd sunk to a 0-5 start with a terrible loss to Essendon in Adelaide which prompted incoming new president Smith, (the fourth one, remember) to meet with captain Max Gawn the next morning. Alarm bells. At the same time, Melbourne issued a statement about the poor performance but made no mention of the coach or its support or otherwise for him. That is when the writing first appeared on the wall for Goodwin and he felt it. Instead of publicly backing Goodwin, they put him on the clock in mid-April just six weeks after Green's declaration of support. Even though they knew the path would be rocky given the midfield issues and lack of forward targets, and the question marks on the futures of Oliver and Petracca remained a distraction, the Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera cyclone at Marvel Stadium was the last straw for the club last week. Who knows why they waited until the 83-point win over West Coast on Saturday to pull the pin on the coach. The dysfunction at this club at the highest level has been a shambles and captain Max Gawn knows it because he has been the one to clean up every new mess in his Triple M radio interviews every week. How he has bit his tongue at times remains a mystery, but Gawn knows how jumpy his club can get. In April, the club appointed a new CEO, Paul Guerra, who couldn't start work at the club until next month, leaving the keys to Chippindall (we think) who was disappointed to be overlooked himself. Goodwin would not have known where to turn for discussions, advice or support as he attempted to fast-track a mini-rebuild of sorts with a team which was in the process of pivoting to a new style and way of playing. Instead of having a strong backing, the man who led the Demons from being a basket case to premiership team (along with Roos) was left looking over his shoulder all year. Where Melbourne heads next is anyone's guess. Clearly, clubs are targeting Petracca and the club may have to pay up to half of Oliver's salary to seal his move one year after the club should have traded him to Geelong. The deal was done by his management, and his papers were stamped to the Cattery. But the board blinked, again. Green was asked what he wanted in a new coach on Tuesday and he said the club wasn't sure yet. Hopefully, they can work it out. But there are no guarantees. The reason Goodwin simply had to go Jay Clark is a leading AFL reporter for News Corp and CODE Sports, based in Melbourne. For almost 20 years, he has helped set the football agenda with his breaking news, deep-dive feature writing and issues-based reporting. He is a trusted voice on the biggest stories in the AFL. AFL Simon Goodwin is set for a monster payout after his brutal sacking as Melbourne coach. All the details and what the $1.2 million dollar figure means for the Dees' soft cap heading into 2026. AFL The AFL's final round is set to feature a finals shaping, double header Sunday, forcing the top eight standings down to the wire. Plus, a prime time farewell is in store for Port Adelaide's long time servers.
