Post match. Lions pinch thriller - all comments.

[Snoop Dog]

In many ways we have ourselves to blame but the blokes in yellow were shocking.

Notwithstanding the loss our club is heading in the right direction. A hard it, tackling, pressure side that doesnt give up. We lack a little bit of class insomuch as we dont have a Brown, Black or Power but we have some kids that will get there.

Lots of bright spots for us though;

Brown - very good and has proven to me he is the real deal. As you know I defended him last year saying he would come on and I am delighted to see that he is better than what i thought he would be.

R.Shaw - was v good early but did let Black back in the the third qtr.

Didak - exceptional

Wood - very good. Contested mark was terrific. Albeit he shouldnt have let Charman mark in the middle from that kick out.

Davis - good but the effort on Corrie cost us a goal.

Burns - super game back - just couldnt run it out.

[OEP]

Well just watch the replay and I have to say in that last quarter it looked like the only way the Pies were going to get a free was to bring their wallets onto the ground. There were some free kicks given to Brisbane at very important stages of that last quarter that turned the game, and conversely there were some free kicks missed for the Pies that could have turned the tide back. I think the look on MM's face, when that free kick was given against N.Brown, said it all.
I think Johnson may be in trouble again, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets sighted for that bump on Black. It really didn't look good.
Negatives: Johnson and Egan looked lost and really had no great impact on the game. Egan really needs to increase his hard ball gets.
Pendles and Travis looked off their game, but showed enough that both should hit their straps soon.
Positives: Our ruck combination is looking very strong, they more than held their own and i'm still very impressed with C. Wood. N. Brown take a bow son another fantastic game against probably the no.1 forward in the competition and really he minimised his impact on the game. Medhurst almost won the game for the Pies, a lengend in the making. OB, Burns, Tarks, Didak, Rocca and pretty much our whole backline awesome. Leon and Daisy were both very good.
At the end of the day if those three out of bounds on the full had been points the Pies would have won, but it never really should have got that desperate as they had numerous opportunities to kill the game, but couldn't take them.
End result is if Pendles and Travis can find their 2007 form the Pies will be flying, but even saying that the boys looked really good last night.
Outs for next week: Johnson, Egan, Goldsack (depending on his nose)
In: Clarke, Reid, Holland (for Goldsack).

[Sultan of spin]

Burns was dissapointing, sorry champ but not your best game.

were you even watching the game? if you think he had a bad game, you know nothing about football...

Yout taking the piss right? Burns was bloody brilliant

[~Madness~]

Well I fell asleep. Didn't see the last half. Ooops

[Steamroller]

We were all over Brisbane in the latter part of the 3rd quarter and really should have gone in with a 5 goal lead at the last break. Game over. Instead we kept them in it and paid the price.

All in all there were a lot more positives than negatives so I think over the next 5 weeks at the MCG we can set up our season.

I just wish some of our quicker midfielders could hit targets - Egan Johno Rhys - they look flashy and then turn it over - heartbreaking. Would rather a one-paced midfielder who can hit a target.

[ktszyu1]

Now that I'm more calm, the morning after:

BEST: Didak, Burns, Davis, Medhurst, Obree, Brown.

IN: Clarke, Reid.
OUT: Egan, Johnson.

[roar]

Really hurt to lose this one but I think it is a good reality check for us: the game was there to be won but we just weren't good enough when it counted.

Really hope that Cox and Anthony have big games today.

[STOKA35]

if you were going to brisbane and you were going to play wet weather football you would think your in the wrong state. It was probably our first match in wet conditions for a long time, so you can not blame skills as the ball is greasy and applied with pressure you are going to miss targets.
Sure the umpires paid some tiggy touchwood frees but we got some as well would be interesting to see the free kicks stat that resulted in goals for the two sides.

To lose by 2 points a game can go either way in my opinion but we had our chances in the 3rd to get a 20-30 point lead which would have been enough to hold on but we did not. Probably thomas's set shot in the last with the amount of time remaining left in the game was a defining moment.If Thomas kicks the goal brisbane's momentem is curtailed they have to score twice to win sure the ball goes back to the centre and brisbane could do the quick reply but it is history now.Medhurst shot at goal was a more difficult kick angle and distance.

It will be interesting again to see how we recover from playing in the wet heavy conditions for next week, My concern is clokes ankle as he was not right in the last qtr.

[HAL]

Really hurt to lose this one but I think it is a good reality check for us: the game was there to be won but we just weren't good enough when it counted.

Really hope that Cox and Anthony have big games today.

I think hurt to lose this one but he or she think it is more than that.

[Culprit]

We gave them three goals with turnovers in the first quarter. That is what cost us the game in some way. In saying that they turned it over in the third quarter. It was pretty even the match and to go down by two points is ok in round two. Bounce back round three.

[ktszyu1]

Another thing: All of this talk about our weak backline, it's rubbish. We look very strong down back. Nathan Brown has injected a lot of what we were lacking down there, but the others are equally impressive. They're calm under pressure, they work for each other, and they're all excellent one on one. Wakes is the only one nearly the end, and we still have Anthony to come in. The future for our backline looks outstanding, and right now it's looking fine.

[fence-banger]

I watched it all ~ the brilliance, the bloopers, it was all there. A hard fought-match right to the bitter end.

We were robbed something shocking. Those umpires were either crooks or imbeciles. They disgust me.

[think better]

On TV it looked like Rhyce Shaw had Black for most of the night and seemed to be pretty tight on him - Black certainly didn't dominate like he has done to us recently.

Anyone at the game that can tell us how that played out?

[Brown26]

Stop saying that the umpires were bad on both sides - they were, but in the last they gave tiggy touch wood frees to brisbane and none to us (13 to 4 my count, 10 to 5 official I think - that's in the last alone) - J Brown's free was not there in any game at any time with any interpretations, N Brown was robbed.

The "high" tackles in the last quarter (Brissy got 4 at least) were paid to the Lions and NOT to us although there were plenty of chances to pay them both ways.

You've said we should have won, could have won, would have won if it was dry, would have won if Daisy had kicked straight, if Egan had tackled etc etc WOULD have won if the umpires umpired the last quarter like the did the first three.

You can't crucify individual players and then say "the umpires were bad on both sides" - don't pander to the AFL, don't contribute to the problem, say it plain. They were crap (blatently, some may say deliberately) and they should be accountable... Should've / would've / could've...

- Ben

[Cam]

Nathan Brown could shape up as our most influential true CHB since Ned.