After the Brisbane Lions’ loss to GWS, forward Joe Daniher received a “harsh” evaluation of his performance.
On ANZAC Day night, the Lions looked competitive at halftime, but they were outplayed by the Giants by 54 points in Canberra. The second half of the game was a complete letdown for the Lions.
The crucial forward duo of Eric Hipwood and Daniher from Brisbane, who combined for just two behinds on Friday as the Lions dropped to 2-5, nevertheless, had yet another lacklustre performance.
At Manuka Oval, Brisbane’s only multiple goalkickers were smaller options. Charlie Cameron and Cam Rayner, while the Lions only managed two majors in the second half compared to nine for GWS.
The disappearing act on Friday night led Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton to criticise the Lions’ big left-footer harshly.
Brereton began his post-game Fox Footy segment by saying, “I do look at it pretty hard,” criticising Daniher’s marking, ruck contest, and chase-down tackle attempts.
“This is Joe after Jack Buckley shoves him under the ball.” This is the “bad Joe,” the “good Joe.”
“Buckley outmarked him there; he just went under him.” At that point, the ball turns over. Joe pushed under it with ease. When Tom Green slides in, the Lions fail to touch the ball again, and a goal is scored.
“In the ruck against Kieren Briggs, Joe was pushed off the ball, and it ended up on the outside where Briggs could have easily stopped the stoppage by simply pushing him sideways.”
Daniher was given additional rucking duties alongside Darcy Fort when Oscar McInerney (concussion protocols) was removed from the team. Daniher recorded 14 disposals and three hit-outs.
Brereton emphasised a good Daniher play, where he forced the ball to drop after a marking battle, setting Cameron up for a goal.
“This is better now; at least he tried a little harder to hold the lead,” Brereton remarked. “Charlie scores the goal because it ends up being a ground ball.”
That’s the difference between being completely outplayed and actually trying to reach the football pitch.
But in the closing minutes of the match, Brereton began to doubt not only the key forward’s motivation but also Hipwood’s and his standing as important players in Chris Fagan’s squad due to a subpar performance by the former Bomber who was pursuing Buckley directly.
He said, “Now, watch the chase here.” That man has decided to call it a night and has given up trying to find out what happened.
People will say, “The game was done,” but if you’re the main forward and you set the bar high for the other forwards in your forward line, you want your main forward to be a beast.
For this reason, in my opinion, Cam Rayner—who only had six (disposals)—is occasionally a more important forward in that forward line than Joe or Eric Hipwood.
“You display a statistic prior to the match showing how frequently these two guys lose when they fail to score two goals.
“They fired two soda shots from a distance of 25 to 30 metres ahead.” They each duffed them badly, one in the channel. They conceded nine goals and kicked two behinds in total that evening.
Forward Jack Riewoldt, a triple Richmond premiership winner, concentrated on how his unprofessional body language may have affected the other players.
For him, it’s partly about mindset, he remarked. “You do depend a lot on ball movement up the ground as a key forward. When things don’t go your way, sometimes what you do matters.
“In my opinion, make an effort to attend as many competitions as you can. Aim for a tackle. Try to obtain something that will simply allow you to rejoin the game. However, you must realise that your body language influences the body language of the person in front of you.
“I’m sure Eric Hipwood would say, ‘Oh, no, he’s got his head down,'” in response to Joe. And that would in fact begin to spread throughout your entire group.
Had he merely attempted to tackle Buckley, it might have quickly moved on to the next play. Now, look, it might not even slightly affect the (outcome), but it gives Chris Fagan something to cheer about. You are necessary to us.
“He is that football club’s leader, and you know what? Ball movement doesn’t guarantee that things will go your way all the time. However, as a leader, you still have to put in some effort.
Brereton gave an explanation of his harsh evaluation before closing.
Brereton said, “I’m treating him harshly right now because I expect so much more out of him.”
However, you are the captain of the forward line if you are the top key forward.
This is how I would handle him behind closed doors if I were an older teammate. I have to make this clear to the audience.
He needs to make sure that his teammates see him actively pursuing the chase rather than just letting it slide. not merely accepting that “well, that was against me” after being pushed under the table. That is not something you can allow to occur.
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