CO-CAPTAIN Luke Power is expecting a solid test of the his side’s in-and-under credentials as the Brisbane Lions look to make it three wins on the hop against North Melbourne at the Gabba on Saturday night.
The Lions have named an unchanged side for the highly-anticipated clash and with rain falling late in the week in Brisbane the match could well be decided by hardness around the football.
“The Kangaroos have always been a really tough team in their stoppage and tackling work, with players like Adam Simpson, Daniel Harris and Brent Harvey,” Power said.
“That’s something that we pride ourselves on and I think this week will be a pretty good test of where we’re at with it.
“We were really good in that area against St Kilda (last week) up until the last 10 minutes, so hopefully we can find that type of form again.”
North Melbourne has made only one enforced change, calling up young Queenslander Gavin Urquhart for his debut in place of the injured Daniel Wells.
BRISBANE LIONS
B: Josh Drummond, Daniel Merrett, Joel Patfull
HB: Jared Brennan, Joel Macdonald, Mitch Clark
C: Anthony Corrie, Simon Black, Tim Notting
HF: Michael Rischitelli, Jonathan Brown, Justin Sherman
F: Rhan Hooper, Daniel Bradshaw, Travis Johnstone
Foll: Jamie Charman, Luke Power, Jed Adcock
I/C: Scott Harding, Jason Roe, Troy Selwood, Ashley McGrath
EMG: James Polkinghorne, Matthew Leuenberger, Cheynee Stiller
NORTH MELBOURNE
B: Gavin Urquhart, Michael Firrito, Josh Gibson
HB: Sam Power, Drew Petrie, Leigh Harding
C: Daniel Pratt, Daniel Harris, Ed Lower
HF: Matt Campbell, Corey Jones, Lindsay Thomas
F: Brent Harvey, Nathan Thompson, David Hale
Foll: Hamish McIntosh, Brady Rawlings, Adam Simpson
I/C: Shannon Grant, Matt Riggio, Shannon Watt, Scott McMahon
EMG: Leigh Brown , Ben Davies, Josh Smith
On the punt:
TAB Sportsbet has installed the Lions as early $1.22 favourites to make it three wins in succession, with the Kangaroos pronounced outsiders at $4.
Jonathan Brown’s back-to-back six-goal hauls obviously haven’t escaped the eyes of punters, who have made him as $5.50 second favourite (behind Lance Franklin) to kick the most goals in round 10. The Lions are now only $1.18 to make the finals, while Simon Black continues to rate highly in Brownlow Medal betting. With Sam Mitchell out of the race, Black is third favourite at $7.
Key match-up:
Black (Lions) v Brady Rawlings (North Melbourne): With the prospect of more weekend rain, the chances of this match being a ground-level slug-out increase. If that proves to be the case, expect the Black-Rawlings match-up to provide plenty of entertainment and importance. Black is the most influential Lion around the stoppages and one of the in-form midfielders of the competition. Rawlings is an excellent stopper capable of finding the ball in his own right – but it’s a big ask to blanket Black if the Lion gets conditions to suit.
Odds and sods:
* Lions star and co-captain Luke Power will square off against his younger brother, Roos utility Sam. Luke was taken with pick No. 5 of the 1997 National Draft, while Sam was picked up with selection No. 10 by the Western Bulldogs in 2001. Since Luke was drafted only two other sets of brothers have both gone inside the first 10 picks – Mark and Jarrad McVeigh (Essendon and Sydney) and Xavier and Raphael Clarke (both St Kilda).
* Sixth-placed North Melbourne has tallied the fewest points of any side in the top eight – 859. Richmond and Port Adelaide, 11th and 12th respectively, have both scored more than 50 more and 15th placed Fremantle has only 46 points fewer. By contrast, the Lions have 966 points, which ranks fourth behind the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood and Hawthorn (and ahead of Geelong). In six outings since the round three loss to Sydney, the Lions have topped 120 points in four games and tallied 118 points in another.
* Along similar lines, the Kangaroos have five players in double figures for goals for the year compared to the Lions’ four. But the Lions’ top two – Brown and Daniel Bradshaw – have already combined for 64. North Melbourne’s most prolific pairing, Nathan Thompson and Corey Jones, have a total of just 42.
The views in this story are those of the author and not of the club
