“The boys were good and bounced back well,” Reserves Coach Nathan Clarke said.
“We were always pretty confident of winning heading into the match, but I couldn’t help but feel it was a danger game.”
“We were down a couple of players after Raines (concussion) and Beams (ankle) didn’t come up from their injuries, so were forced to use eight top-up players. We definitely had to be on our game.”
“Matt Austin had to sit out the entire second half in case he was needed as a late call-up for the senior team and Amon Buchanan hurt his leg early and was restricted for most of the game. He copped the same cork as last week but stilled battled on.”
Clarke said a number of listed Lions players performed well including Tasmanian draftee Josh Green who continued his blistering form in the NEAFL after sitting out last weekend against the Gold Coast.
“Greeny put in another great performance and is really knocking on the door of the senior team. He’s probably been under serious consideration for the last 3-4 weeks and will go close again. He racked up 27 touches, kicked three goals and really gave the boys a spark in the middle,” Clarke said.
“James Hawksley was also very good across half-back with 35 disposals. GWS paid ‘Hawk’ the ultimate respect by putting a clamp on him for most of the day to try and limit his impact, but he was just fantastic.”
“Mitch Golby (30 disposals) and Tom Collier were both very good while Brad Harvey played mainly at full-back and was good - particularly in the first half.”
“Harvey is not your conventional full-back given he’s only 185cm, but he’s a powerful lad. He also gave us great drive from defence and still managed to rack up 26 possessions.”
“Karnezis was great playing mainly up forward. He led well and worked his backside off. He took what I thought was a lot of contested marks and booted four goals which was terrific.”
"Jared Polec was also good and really carried the ball well through the middle."
The Lions face stiff competition this Saturday when they face the NEAFL's Northern Conference ladder-leaders NT Thunder at Sherwood.
The NT Thunder have taken the competition by storm having won all seven of their matches in 2011.
“They’re undefeated, but I don’t think they’re unbeatable,” Clarke said.
“At home they’re particularly tough to beat, but they probably come back to the pack a bit when they’re on the road which is fair enough considering the amount of travel they do.”
“We’ll plan for former AFL Brownlow Medallist Andrew McLeod to play, even though he doesn’t necessarily play every week with the Thunder. They have a really strong side with the two Ilet boys - Jarred and Cameron - among the stars of the competition.”
“Then there’s Ross Tungatalum who’s a real livewire and will prove a good test for one of our small defenders."
"Darren Ewing is their full-forward and generally kicks a bag of goals - he kicked seven against Mt Gravatt last week. So Brad Harvey will probably have his work cut out for him at full-back this week.”
