Lion tamers become the smiling assassins

RICHMOND used the dozen teams no longer in contention as inspiration for their push to a third-straight home preliminary final.

Star onballer Dion Prestia has revealed the psychology behind the Tigers’ blistering nine-goal pile-on in Saturday night’s qualifying final victory at the Gabba, which helped deliver the premiership favourites a week off and an MCG clash against either West Coast or Geelong.

But he said a reminder from the skipper, Trent Cotchin, had helped to reinvigorate the group after they trailed at quarter-time and that those now watching on would continue to push the Tigers’ hopes.

we were behind), Trent kept getting us in, saying ‘just have a smile’,” Prestia (pictured) said.

“(He was saying) ‘we knew it was going to be like this, and there’s only two goals the difference’.

“They probably did dominate the first quarter, but it was good just to get back together and refresh after that first quarter and the way we were playing after that was pretty good.

“You just talk about how many other players at other teams want to be in our position. You just kind of enjoy it.

“(Brisbane assistant coach Jed) Adcock said something about Brisbane enjoying the moment, and it — Andrew Hamilton was exactly what we do every week. It’s having fun and to play in another prelim final is amazing and we’re just so lucky to be in this situation.” Prestia, 26, gathered a game-high 32 disposals and 10 tackles in what was the Tigers’ first interstate finals victory. He has been battling Achilles soreness in recent weeks, conceding it was “pretty sore” over the bye weekend. Such an injury can be troublesome and Prestia admitted there had been reminders of horror stories, but Saturday night’s performance had boosted his confidence. “Being able to manage it (in the bye week) was the best thing. I was HEAD-SCRATCHING: A dejected Daniel Rich after losing the second AFL Qualifying final between the Brisbane Lions and Richmond. INSET: Harris Andrews. still able to train three or four times … but it was pretty sore,” he said. “We go again, hopefully, two more times.

“Being able just to play the way I did and change direction and going on long runs is probably the hardest thing and you’ve got to think about it. I’m really happy with how it’s going.”

Richmond will face either West Coast or Geelong in their home preliminary final in a fortnight and might be favourite to win this year’s premiership, but Prestia stopped short of declaring the feeling was similar to that of the team’s 2017 glory.

“I don’t want to jinx anything,” he said, smiling. us or

THE Lions licked their wounds yesterday knowing full well they were self-inflicted. Any way you dice it, Brisbane handed the Tigers a preliminary final berth on a platter by failing at the most important skill in football — goal kicking. However, the unflattering 8.17 return from 65 inside-50m entries is a double-edged sword for the Lions. They will know that cleaning up their goal kicking will go a long way to reversing the result against the Giants at the Gabba on Saturday. From his vantage point deep in defence, vice-captain Harris Andrews said he saw enough from the Lions to suggest they had their chances to win the game. It was exactly the same sentiment Chris Fagan shared after the game. However, the coach has refused to make a scapegoat of any of his forwards. “The Tigers defence do a really good job of when you do get a mark inside 50, it’s either wide or pretty far out,” he said. “I imagine we will spend a bit of time on set shots this week, but our ability as a midfield and backline to find the options inside the 50m a bit closer to goal in more gettable distances would be more helpful for them.” Andrews said the confidence Brisbane had built by finishing the season in second place on the ladder would not be eroded by the loss. “It was a little bit flattening to come out and lose,” he said. “But at the same time we put ourselves in a really good position through hard work this year to allow ourselves a second opportunity and we are all excited to come out again next week.” Mitch Robinson will undergo scans today on the hamstring he injured in the final quarter.