‘Selfish’ Lions punished

Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale says the “selfish” Lions received the wake-up call they needed in their one-point Opening Round loss to Carlton.

Leading by 46 points early in the second quarter on Friday night, the Lions paid a hefty price for taking their foot off the pedal as the Blues surged home to win 13.8 (86) to 12.13 (85) to become the first team to beat Brisbane at the Gabba since August 2022.

Rubbing further salt into the Lions’ wounds was the seasonending knee injury suffered by defender Keidean Coleman.

While Coleman was missed, Neale suggested there were more significant reasons last season’s beaten grand finalists opened up their new campaign with a loss. “(There’s a) a lot to learn from that 25-minute patch from the end of the second term to the start of the third where they won the game,” he said.

“(There was) a little bit of selfishness, we weren’t cohesive on defence, probably thought scoreboard was ticking along all right, so maybe that intensity dropped away a little bit … we probably chose some easy options. (We) didn’t dig in, and basically, you’re sh-ting on your teammates.

“It’s a great lesson. I’m glad that we learnt it now and not later in the year.

“Maybe guys thought how good we are and how well we’re going. We had two pre-season wins … so it’s a great reminder.

“We certainly know that we’re not ahead of the rest.

“We’re still chasing. We haven’t done anything yet. We want to be the hunters.”

The Lions will challenge the $2500 fine that Neale received for striking Carlton’s George Hewett in the third quarter.

Hewett was fined the same amount for striking Neale in the same incident, but Hewett’s charge was graded as “careless contact”, while the Lion was deemed to have made “intentional contact” with the midfielder.