No tanks, says Beams
TANKING will be the last thing on bottom- of- the- ladder Brisbane’s minds in their AFL season finale against North Melbourne on Saturday.
The No. 1 draft pick will be up for grabs if the Lions fail to leapfrog the Kangaroos and remain last.
But Lions captain Dayne Beams claimed Brisbane were determined to avoid the wooden spoon with victory at the Gabba, saying the No. 1 pick “doesn’t mean all that much”.
The Lions and North Melbourne are both on five wins for the season, with the loser guaranteed last spot.
Victory would ensure Brisbane finish second last for the third straight season but Beams believed the Lions had shown drastic improvement in 2017. Since the round 11 bye Brisbane have a 4- 7 tally.
“We obviously don’t want to finish on the bottom of the ladder,” Beams said. “We don’t feel like, as a playing group, that we’ve been the bottom side, and we’re really keen to put in a good performance this week and get off it.”
Beams admitted there were advantages to finishing last but believed victory for the rebuilding Lions would benefit the AFL club the long- term.
“When you look over the No. 1 draft picks over previous years, it doesn’t mean all that much,” he said.
“We’re really keen as a playing group to set that winning culture for our footy club moving forward, and finishing on the bottom of the ladder is not something we want to do.
“We won three games last year as a footy club, we’re looking to double that. If we win this weekend, that’s six wins and that’s a real good step in the right direction.”
Meanwhile, Lions youngster Sam Skinner faces another lengthy stint on the sidelines after enduring his third ruptured ACL. Skinner, 20, injured his right knee playing for the Lions’ reserves in the NEAFL against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.
He had his left knee reconstructed in 2015 and 2016, with the latter injury coming days before he was selected to make his AFL debut last July.
The 197cm Skinner played his sole AFL game this year in Brisbane’s round 19 loss to West Coast.