BRISBANE LIONS coach Leigh Matthews says his side's clash with Collingwood at the MCG tomorrow night will prove beneficial for his younger players. The Lions have not played at the 'G' since their round 10 encounter with the Magpies last year.
"One thing I read in the paper, and it never occurred to me, is that seven or eight of our players might never have been to the MCG before, let alone played here.
"So that's going to be invaluable experience, because the one thing we know for certain is where the big day's played," Matthews said.
Matthews says his side's three-game winning streak is due mainly to structural and positional changes.
"It seems to have given us some good results … we looked quite quick in the pre-season and early in the season, and then in the middle of the season we looked slow. Now we look quick all of a sudden.
"Effectively, as a whole group we just seem to have more legs since the pre-season break," Matthew said.
With Jonathan Brown in top form having bagged 20 goals over the past three weeks - including 10 last week against Carlton - Matthews admitted that the risk of his players being too 'Brown-centric' was an ever-present threat.
"It's a constant issue with your dominant players. Your dominant players draw the ball, and one of the reasons that they're good forwards is not just their ability to get the ball but their ability to make their teammates kick it to them because of their character and personality. Which means sometimes you go to them when there's a better option," Matthews said.
To add to an already hyped occasion, five Brisbane players will wear radio transmitters that will relay stats, such as their heart rate, speed and collisions count, to a the Channel 10 TV audience in what is said to be a first for any football code in the world.
"Although Matthews says he won't be using the information collated during the game, he says the game is going down a technological route.
"The extension of it is that, if every player is allowed to wear a GPS and you're allowed to do it in real time, there can be a statistical look at the workload and how he's travelling, rather than just [using] your eyes, which is what we've been depending on for the past 100 years.
