Round 20 Team v Brisbane

[Go_Dogs]

If I were Brisbane I'd be playing Brennan in the centre square this week. He's a really explosive power athlete, and would cause us all sorts of trouble...I really liked what I saw when he played centre against Port ealier in the year.

Not going to be an easy game, but I'm confident we can get the points. We beat them up there last year, and Cross and Griffen basically missed the whole game.

[hujsh]

I thought we looked very light at the start of the season. Only one of those guys has ever held down a KP at AFL level for longer than a week or two here and there.

But Wight/McDougal would hopefully only need to be in for that amount of time. Didn't work out like that though.

[bornadog]

The Age

Lions' Bradshaw under injury cloud
August 15, 2008 - 5:21PM

Brisbane Lions forward Daniel Bradshaw is under an injury cloud heading into his side's must-win match against an out of sorts Western Bulldogs at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The 29-year-old failed to train on Wednesday and will need to successfully complete a final session to take his place alongside Jonathon Brown for the Lions.

Bradshaw strained a stomach muscle in last week's loss to Hawthorn in Launceston, and while he completed the match the injury has sidelined the goal kicking monster this week.

"He did it and he played on, so we expect him to be okay, but that was the reason that he didn't train on Wednesday," Lions coach Leigh Matthews said ahead of training.

Losing Bradshaw would be a massive blow for the ninth placed Lions, who Matthews admits have "no margin for error" after losing five of their past six matches.

Brown and Bradshaw have kicked 128 goals between them this season, and losing either would place enormous pressure on a Lions side struggling to get more three names on the scorers sheet each week.

"Against the Kangaroos (in round 18) we had 12 guys who had shots at goal but we openly had three goal kickers," Matthews said.

"So that was purely an accuracy issue.

"Those small medium forwards, (when) you get two or three shots at goal it makes an enormous difference if you kick three or none out of your three shots.

"Purely the conversion accuracy is holding us back in terms of those small medium forwards."

The Bulldogs, assured of their finals schedule, will be looking to regain their consistency after their own loss to the Kangaroos last start.

Coach Rodney Eade said his troops were genuinely excited about the trip north to face the Lions.

"We've won there the last three times. The players seemed to like playing at the Gabba," Eade said before boarding the plane.

"Every time we've trained there the night before the game they've had a real spring in their step.

"I don't know whether it's the warm weather but the players seemed to respond well to playing in Brisbane.

"I don't think it's so much the opponents I think it may be the venue."

Matthews doesn't dispute the Dogs' record in Brisbane, but played a familiar straight bat when told of Eade's comments.

"We can't deny facts," he said.

"But it's all about tomorrow night and how we play and how they play."

Certainly one Bulldog familiar with the Gabba is Jason Akermanis, who has promised a big performance after being criticised for his effort against the Kangaroos.

Matthews is under no illusions the former Lion will be primed for a big game.

Asked whether Akermanis would like nothing more than to knock his old club out of finals contention, Matthews replied with a smile, "I'm sure."

[Rocco Jones]

With Williams out The Dogs have been playing a token 2nd tall defender mainly I believe to free up Shags and Morris to play in more suitable roles. I think Brisbane are distinctive in that they have 2 strong key forwards but struggle for other goal kicking options. I think it would be a waste to have Morris and Shags playing on Brisbane's other forwards while having someone like Everitt or Tiller on Bradshaw. I would go with Morris on whichever tall Lake doesn't take as Shags is much more suited to medium/small opponents. It's worth noting that Gilham (with assistance it must be said) kept Brown quite last week and he has attributes similar to Morris, still I would go with Morris on Bradshaw and Lake on Brown.

I truly think we are going to smash them btw.