THE BRISBANE Lions have made only three enforced changes in naming a 25-man squad ahead of Sunday afternoon’s clash with St Kilda at the Gabba.
Ruckman Matthew Leuenberger, midfielder Cheynee Stiller and first-year utility James Polkinghorne have been added to the 22 that accounted for Carlton by 33 points last week.
St Kilda, meanwhile, has made six changes, with Nick Riewoldt, Jarryn Geary, Andrew McQualter, Matthew Ferguson, Clinton Jones and Aaron Fiora coming in for the injured Fraser Gehrig and the omitted Raphael Clarke and Charlie Gardiner.
Riewoldt injured his knee against Richmond three weeks ago and was originally expected to miss at least a month. However, should he play, he will have missed only two matches – the Hall of Fame Tribute Match and last week’s loss to Collingwood.
Both sides will trim their squads to the standard 22 on Friday afternoon.
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 (from): Scott Harding, Jason Roe, Troy Selwood, Ashley McGrath, Matthew Leuenberger, Cheynee Stiller, James Polkinghorne
ST KILDA
B: Leigh Fisher, Max Hudghton, Sean Dempster
HB: Jason Gram, Sam Fisher, Brendon Goddard
C: Nick Dal Santo, Luke Ball, Leigh Montagna
HF: Adam Schneider, , Nick Riewoldt, Jason Blake
F: Shane Birss,, Justin Koschitzke, Stephen Milne
Foll: Steven King, Lenny Hayes, Robert Harvey
I/C (from): Michael Gardiner, Jarryn Geary, Andrew McQualter, Matthew Ferguson, Clint Jones, Aaron Fiora, David Armitage
On the punt:
Punters certainly fancy the Lions to post successive wins for the first time this season – the home side is set to go into the weekend at $1.22, compared to St Kilda’s $4.
The Lions are now into $1.35 to make the top eight and sit steady at $21 to add another premiership trophy to the Gabba cabinet. After plundering six goals against Carlton last week, Jonathan Brown looks good value at $14 to be the first player to kick 10 goals in a match in 2008.
Key match-up:
Brown (Lions) v Sam Fisher (Saints): it seems certain that Fisher and Max Hudghton will each stand one of Brown and Daniel Bradshaw. Hudghton has battled manfully against Brown in the past, while Fisher probably deserves first crack at the Coleman medallist on form. Either way, both are undersized and the Lions will look to move the ball swiftly to their spearhead to exploit the size differential.
Odds and sods:
* With the Saints already without Gehrig, pre-match attention will likely focus on whether Riewoldt’s injured knee comes up. If the Gold Coast product doesn’t play, the Saints will start minus some 820 career goals (the combined tallies of Gehridg and Riewoldt). To put that into perspective, Lions guns Brown and Bradshaw have 683 between them to date.
* Both sides enter the game averaging more points-per-game than they did last year. In the Lions’ case, their 103 points-per-outing is well ahead of the 90 points averaged in 2007. The Saints’ rise is more modest – up from 85 points to 93. It’s also a long way off the 109 points-per-game St Kilda averaged in 2005, when it led the league in scoring and made a preliminary final.
* If the game comes down to the wire, expect both teams to run it out strongly. The Lions have outscored opponents by 15 points after the 20-minute mark of the last quarter so far in 2008, while the Saints are plus-11.
