The Lions prevailed by 11 points in blustery conditions on the Gold Coast after kicking 7.14 (56) to the Hawks’ 6.9 (45).
It was the Lions’ final competitive hitout against another club before the start of the home-and-away season and Senior Coach Michael Voss was pleased his team could enjoy their first taste of success for 2010.
“The win probably mattered a little more for us this week,” Voss said.
“To get that confidence heading into the season is really valuable.”
The match practice was particularly important for the Club following the cancellation of the Lions’ previous NAB Challenge match against Geelong last week in Melbourne.
“We probably haven’t had a really good chance to see where we are at so far this pre-season,” Voss said. “We’ve been a bit deprived of that.”
“I thought we were pretty competitive against the Bulldogs in our first NAB Cup match at Canberra. The conditions were not ideal and the Bulldogs are a genuine class act.”
“In our second week against Carlton I thought we were just terrible. We didn’t play well at all,” he said.
“Then we lost an opportunity to play against a quality opposition in Geelong last week.”
Regardless of the interruptions, Voss was satisfied with what his team were able to show against the 2008 premiers at Southport.
“We got out of the game what we needed to,” he said.
“We wanted to implement some of the things we have trialled over the pre-season.”
“We’ll more than likely still play some form of intra-club match this week to try and make up for the match that was cancelled.”
The match signalled the return of key trio Simon Black, Josh Drummond and Luke Power while dashing defender Ash McGrath made his first appearance with the senior side.
Black was particularly damaging and was one of the driving forces behind the team's second half surge.
Also impressive were the performances of young Lions Todd Banfield and Tom Rockliff who did no harm to their chances of being selected in the senior side for the Club's season opener against West Coast on Saturday 27 March.
Key defensive duo Daniel Merrett and recruit Matt Maguire were solid in defence and helped limit the Hawks to just six goals from 15 shots. Merrett also provided one of the match highlights when he took a 'hanger' over Hawthorn forward Lance Franklin which resulted in a loud cheer from his hometown crowd.
Voss was also particularly pleased with his team’s ability to find other goal-scorers in conditions not suitable for big forwards.
“We got goals from other areas - not just from Fev and Browny - which is going to make us stronger as a team,” Voss said.
“Staker kicked three and some of the other guys contributed on the scoreboard as well.”
“I also thought our defenders came together really well.”
In other good news, the Lions came through the match unscathed with no new injury concerns.
MATCH DETAILS
Brisbane Lions - 7.14 (56)
Hawthorn - 6.9 (45)
GOALS: Lions - Staker 3, Brown, Johnstone, Rischitelli, Banfield.
BEST: Lions - Johnstone, Black, Staker, Raines, Merrett, Hawksley, Rischitelli, Maguire, Adcock.
