Chris Fagan says the Lions have been working on readjusting to life after the retirement of key forward Joe Daniher.
The Brisbane coach said they needed to improve their conversion rate once they moved the ball inside the 50m arc.
Hugh McCluggage of the Lions gets a kick.Credit: AFL Photos
โItโs something weโve been working on pretty hard at training,โ Fagan told Fox Footy.
โOur forward lineโs probably been our most disrupted line this year, too, with injuries – Charlie Cameronโs missed a few, Kai Lohmann hasnโt played all that much, Logan Morris missed a game or two, and obviously, Joeyโs not there any more.
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โSo itโs taking us a little while to get that connection. But I feel like the last couple of weeks, itโs starting to improve.โ
Fagan also praised the form of midfielder Hugh McCluggage.
โI think heโs a really underestimated player, and heโs one of those blokes that keeps working on his game,โ he said.
โI think if you have a look at him, statistically this year heโs improved his clearance work. I think he had 11 last week, and his actual tackle pressure has gone through the roof.
โI hope at some point heโs good enough to be selected as an All-Australian, not that itโs all about individual things, but heโs one bloke that if he did, youโd say, โwell, heโs deserved that because heโs been pretty close for a long timeโ.โ
Fagan said the club was not tempted to rest players off a five-day break for the Essendon clash, but would consider that approach later in the season.
โEverybody pulled up well from the game last week,โ he said. โIf someone had been a little bit dicey, we definitely would have made that call, but as it turned out we didnโt have any injuries from the game.โ
Fagan said the Lions would try and deny Essendon the ball in the Bombersโ back end by limiting their uncontested marks.
โI think they use that as a form of defence, in a way to possess the ball. So Iโd like to think we can force them along down the line quite regularly tonight,โ he said.
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