Round 18 - Brisbane Lions @ET
North Melbourne Kangaroos 4.7 8.10 12.15 17.20 122
Brisbane Lions 4.0 8.5 10.6 11.11 77
I hate game when we're quite strong favourites and this one was as important for final 8 aspirations as any this weekend. 'We' also owed the Lions an uppercut after they beat us earlier in the year when they had no rights!!!
Another dominant 1st quarter wasted by inaccurate goal kicking had me prepared for the worst. 11 scoring shots to open the game is a good effort but 4 goals from those opportunities is not. 4 goals 3 in the second quarter was in improvement in accuracy but saw the Roos holding onto a tenuous 5 point lead at the main break. Daniel Wells was having a rare quiet half but Ryan Bastinac was having a consistent ball winning half to counter it. While some of the usual suspects were playing well Swallow, Goldstein and Petrie (Despite his inaccurate goal kicking!?) what was most refreshing was the younger brigade in Leigh Adams, Bastinac and Jack Ziebell picking up the midfield slack.
I was always of the belief that the Roos would wear the young Lions down and eventually pull away and they did just that kicking 4 goals to 2 in the 3rd quarter and 5 to 1 in the last to pull out a percentage boosting 45 point win. The key match up for the game was in the ruck between 2 of the up and coming tall timber of the AFL Todd Goldstein and Matthew Leuenberger. They are 1 and 2 respectively in the league for hitouts and are capable of going forward and adding to the scoreboard. It was almost a tie but Goldstein stamped another claim for All-Australian honours with 42 hit outs and 2 very important goals. Leuey was probably 50/50 in ruck contests against Goldy but Goldy's tank enabled him to play an astounding 98% of game time to Leuey's 68% which allowed him to attend more stoppages and therefore end up with the more hit outs. I tipping this two ruckmen to be the premiere ruckmen of the comp for the next 10 years like Dean Cox and Aaron Sandilands. If Petrie had kicked straighter we would have been 'Best on Ground' with 13 very strong marks and 8 scoring shots. Unfortunately he kicked 3.5 and should have had at least 6 but in the end it was enough and the Roos have the chance to enter the 8 next weekend if they can beat Carlton on the big stage of the Roo grown Friday Night canvas. On a Lions note Simon Black played a blinder and should be good for at least 2 more years!
Roo Rating: 8 / 10
Daniel Wells
Daniel had a quiet day amassing only 17 possessions and almost half of them in the last quarter. It is his lowest output for the year and goes with a n 18 and a 19 possie performance as the only time he hasn't had 20+ in 18 rounds. It goes to show how good he is when his 12 kicks all hit a target and he drifted forward and kicked 2 goals plus an easy snap that was just wide left. He also laid 5 bone crunching tackles to match his new aggressive inside game. If Wells wants to be considered elite and one of the A grade players in the comp he will need to step up on Friday night with a team lifting performance.
Wells Rating: 6.5 / 10
Until then hail to the Dish!!
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