Ever heard of a standing ovation for an opposition assistant coach? Well sacked Freo coach, now Lions assistant Mark Harvey got one from the purple army as he made his way to the coaches’ box pre-game. He waved his hand to acknowledge the crowd several times as he walked along the northern wing, enjoying the plaudits. After the game Michael Barlow made the effort to shake hands with his former coach, as did Aaron Sandilands, always a Harvey favourite.
2. How long for Fyfe
Dreamteamers were holding their breath (or reaching the trade button) after Nathan Fyfe was subbed off in the second term with a shoulder injury. The outcome is still up in the air with scans on Sunday or Monday to confirm whether he needs another reconstruction (he had one post-season in 2011) or whether he can play through the injury.
3. Tough task
Billy Longer might have given away 10cm and 20kg to Sandilands but the Lions debutant had enough in his repertoire to stymie this intimidating opponent, for a while at least. At 211cm and 122kg, Sandilands cast an imposing shadow over Patersons Stadium but Longer grabbed three centre hit-outs over him in the opening term and grabbed two marks in an impressive start to his career. Longer’s job got harder when the other big Lion Matthew Leuenberger was subbed off injured in the second term. And by the end of the match it was Sandilands who reigned supreme with 54 hit-outs to Longer’s 19.
4. Inside 50 drought
Brisbane Lions created an unwanted record for the least amount of inside 50s since Champion Data started keeping stats on AFL games. They got the ball in their attacking arc just 20 times on a picture perfect sunny day in Perth, one conducive to a high-scoring encounter between two skilful AFL teams. Freo’s press and the Lions aversion to risk meant the ball was often chipped around or in dispute, but the main issue was they didn’t want to kick the ball forwards. The previous low was Freo's 23 against Adelaide back in round 15, 2009.
5. Brown battles
Jonathan Brown’s return after his latest face break started with promise when he took three early marks. But his day petered out after that with the majority of the game being played in Fremantle’s half. He didn’t kick a goal and ended with just those three disposals in an underwhelming comeback game. Brown refused to blame his face injury and was shattered he couldn’t get to more contests. “It was a pretty ordinary performance so I’ve got to fix that up,” he said.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
