BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss was delighted his side was able to run out comfortable winners over the Gold Coast despite injuries to Brent Moloney and Mitch Golby leaving the hosts a man down in the final quarter.
The Lions lost Moloney to a suspected calf injury in the third quarter and he was joined on the sidelines by Golby, who did not return after a collision with Steven May.
Despite this, the Lions were able to convert their 13-point lead at three-quarter time to an eventual 17.14 (116) to 12.11 (83) scoreline.
“We were down on numbers and it’s important to be tough in those moments,” Voss said.
“How we rotated, how we used our players, what sort of strategy we had to go with late, it was all factored into and the guys were able to do that.
“You’ve got to be tough, you’ve got to be able to run when you need to run and I thought they were that today and finished out quite strong.”
Voss will play a waiting game to see the extent of Moloney and Golby’s injuries, and with Simon Black unlikely to recover from a groin injury in the next week the depth of the Lions squad will be tested once more against the Kangaroos.
“All I know at this stage (with Moloney) is it’s his lower leg and Mitch Golby was coughing a little blood so it was deemed a bit unsafe for him to return,” Voss said.
The big positives that Voss took from the game were the performances from his tall forwards - both permanent and makeshift.
The Lions dominated the 'marks inside 50' statistic 14-6 and this translated into three goals for Jonathan Brown and swingman Brent Staker and two for, forward for the day, Daniel Merrett.
“For us we’ve spent a lot of time trying to spread the load on our goalkicking. It’s something we’re still continuing to work with,” Voss said.
“I think we had about ten goalkickers again tonight. The flexibility that we’re starting to get in our side is good. We can play Staker forward or back, the same with (Merrett).
“Joel (Patfull) spent a little bit of time there. Ash McGrath you’ve seen spend time in the front half and the back half. That flexibility is important to have.
"In the end I thought all the big guys were impressive."
