Cleaning out Grimes is the key for Lions

BRISBANE coach Chris Fagan has challenged Charlie Cameron to find a way to shake off Richmond defender Dylan Grimes in Saturday’s AFL qualifying final at the Gabba.

Grimes limited the Lions’ forward to just seven touches in the Tigers’ 27-point Round 23 win at the MCG, using a number of borderline physical contests to prevent Cameron getting a good run at the ball. Fagan said yesterday he had queried a couple of the challenges with the AFL’S umpiring department.

He wasn’t, however, expecting the umpires to make life easier for Cameron when he and Grimes face off again this weekend.

“After the game against Richmond … we just asked them about a few of the decisions that were made both for and against us,” Fagan said.

“Included in that was a couple of the contests that Charlie was involved with. So yes we have asked the question about that but some other things as well.

“We think that probably Charlie needs to come up with a few more strategies to challenge Dylan Grimes and that’s what we’ve been working on over the last two weeks.

“We’re not expecting any favours from the umpires.

“It’s all about how Charlie goes about his work and how his teammates can help him and those sorts of things.”

Fagan rebuffed any suggestion that stopping Cameron stops the Lions.

While Cameron leads the Lions’ goalkicking with 54 majors this year, Eric Hipwood (32), Dayne Zorko (22), Hugh Mccluggage (22) and Lincoln Mccarthy (20) have all kicked 20 goals or more.

“If you go and have a look at all the AFL teams and who averages the most guys having a shot on goal per game it’s us. We’re No.1,” Fagan said.

“We have about 8½ goal kickers per game, which is as good as anyone. That’s the answer to that question.

“Charlie’s been on fire lately and so the focus has gone on him but to win finals you need multiple avenues to goal.

“That’s what we’ll be looking for.”

Lions captain Zorko, who’ll play the first final of his 166game AFL career, agreed stopping Cameron shouldn’t stop his team scoring.

“There’s other guys in that forward line who are just as dangerous and can certainly do damage on the scoreboard,” he said. “From my point of view there’s a lot of guys who can go through there.”

Having watched his team fall to the Tigers at the MCG, Fagan said it helped to play again so soon as the Lions attempt to beat Richmond for the first time since 2009.

“We know there’s a lot of improvement that we need to make to really challenge Richmond and … we’ve identified those things and we’ve gone to work on them,” he said.