WOUNDED WORRY
No Jack Martin and fresh drugs scandal at Suns leaves Lions on high alert in QClash
GOLD Coast may have been rocked by another drugs scandal but Brisbane vice-captain Harris Andrews has warned his side that hard times can produce tough footy teams.
The Lions learnt that the hard way this season when they fell to a resurgent Carlton outfit in their first outing after the sacking of coach Brendon Bolton.
It was the Lions’ most recent loss, which sparked a seven-game winning streak that has them locked in a three-way battle for top spot with Geelong and West Coast.
Brisbane could not stand up to Carlton’s passion that day and Andrews said he expected their QClash rivals to also be fired up at the Gabba today after another difficult week for the Suns.
Gold Coast have spent the back-end of the week in damage control after news broke teenage forward Brayden Crossley was provisionally suspended for testing positive to a banned substance.
In a break from the usual midweek procedure, Suns players were called in to a special meeting to inform them of the ban.
While it was another issue for the club to manage, it also made Andrews wary ahead of the second QClash of the season.
He suspects seeing a popular teammate go through a difficult time is likely to generate a similar performance spike from the players as the sacking of a coach.
“I haven’t experienced anything like that in my time in footy, but I’m sure it probably galvanises them if anything,” Andrews said.
“Things like that, even a change of coach for teams this year, they’ve been able to come out and perform really well.
“They’ll be extremely united as they have been throughout the season.”
Brisbane are almost unbackable favourites over a Gold Coast outfit on a 15-game losing streak and heavy favourites for the wooden spoon.
A huge win could see the Lions elevate themselves above West Coast or Geelong into the top two.
However, Andrews revealed coach Chris Fagan and veteran Luke Hodge had hammered into the players that taking the Suns lightly, or seeing the game as a potential percentage booster, could have consequences.
“When we are getting ahead of ourselves, they knock us down a peg pretty quickly,” he said.
“We’ve got a good understanding by Round 21 of what we need to do each week to perform well.”
“There probably won’t be any direct match-ups. We have to focus on our structures and how we can work together to stop them the best way we can.
“As a defender all you want to do is make it hard for your opponents. There will be no easy kicks and no soft goals, they have to earn absolutely everything.’’
However, he said the defence’s best chance of curtailing the Lions rested on the pressure applied upfield.
“Our first layer becomes so important – they have full control of how that football does come into our backline,’’ he said. “If they put pressure on and it forces the Lions to hack-kick it or it stays in the air for longer, that then allows our defenders to get to work.’’
Harbrow said the Suns would focus on a strong start because they could not allow Brisbane to settle in the game.