Lions bounce back as legend returns
PALM Beach Currumbin great Jesse Derrick has made his comeback to football on a day the Lions responded to a scathing review with a 75-point win over Wilston Grange.
Derrick wasn’t going to play in 2020 but the experienced Lion couldn’t stay away.
He played for the Palm Beach Currumbin development side, which beat Wilston Grange 2.4 (17) to 1.7 (13).
The Lions senior QAFL side conducted a stinging review of last week’s game against Sherwood on Tuesday and coach Jess Sinclair got the response he was after — the team smashed Wilston Grange 13.7 (85) to 1.4 (10) at Salk Oval on Saturday.
“It was scrappy, wet and a tackle-heavy game but we got a four-quarter performance out of them,” Sinclair said.
“The boys looked hungrier and adapted to the conditions. They were more clean with the footy, that was the main thing.
“They weren’t trying to overuse the ball, they just got it forward and into dangerous spots in front of goal.
“We had a scathing review on Tuesday night before training and dissected that second half because we were so poor. A few guys got a clip and they responded.”
FORWARD Matthew “Chook” Fowler was out with cracked ribs but Broadbeach was not short on class in its 13.16 (94) to 4.8 (32) win over Labrador on Saturday.
Fowler sustained the injury last week and was one of six forced changes, including draft prospect Alex Davies, who may not return for a month because of an arm injury.
But with Nathan Quick returning and defender Rhys Clark playing his first game,
Broadbeach got on top of a Tigers outfit which lost two of its best.
Labrador lost Jonathon Beech (hamstring) and Thomas Miller (quad) in the first quarter, hurting an already young side which couldn’t go with the Cats in heavy conditions.
“They were undermanned and we cashed in on that,” Cats coach Craig O’Brien said.
“We had a really even spread. Rhys Clark played his first game and was really good off halfback while Nathan Quick played his first game back too.”
Labrador coach Liam Burke didn’t have a lot to celebrate, but the debut of promising 16year-old Luke Coombes put a silver lining on the loss.
“Luke kicked a goal with his first kick in senior footy,” Burke said.
“He played plenty of time on the wing and on the forward flank and didn’t look out of place. Todd Featherstone presented his jumper, which was a nice touch.”
The Tigers are winless from three games and with the regular season cut back to eight games due to COVID-19, Labrador will need a swift improvement to challenge for the premiership. Burke said the team still hoped to reach the finals, with the top six teams of the nine-team competition earning a spot in the finals.