Lions set sights on beating the best
SIX-GOAL Brisbane hero Zac Bailey says the Lions want to prove to themselves they are a genuine top-four AFL team by beating the Swans at the SCG on Sunday.
Bailey and the Lions were superb in the weekend QClash at Metricon, with the 22-yearold Northern Territory product’s half-a-dozen goals the highlight in Brisbane’s crushing 52-point defeat of the Suns.
The win improved the Lions’ record to five victories from six matches and left them in a bunch of four teams – which includes the Swans – that are four points behind undefeated leaders and reigning premiers Melbourne.
But while it’s a good spot to be in after six rounds, the Lions want more.
Despite being widely tipped before the season started as likely grand finalists, Brisbane’s players believe they still have something to prove.
It’s perhaps because only one of the teams they have beaten this season, Collingwood, is in the top eight.
The others – Gold Coast, North Melbourne, Essendon and Port Adelaide – are placed from 13th to last on the ladder.
Throw in that the only team to have beaten the Lions are perennial contenders in sixthplaced Geelong, and it’s understandable the Lions want a scalp.
“(We want to) match our game up against some of the best in the competition, and hopefully we can win (on Sunday) and prove to ourselves we’re a genuine top-four side,” Bailey said. “We’re always looking to try to improve. We haven’t played our best footy at the start of the season. We’re slowly building into that.
“Sydney play really well there (at the SCG). They’ve got a lot of great players in their team ... it’s a big game this weekend.”
Bailey’s Marcus Ashcroft Medal-winning performance against the Suns is likely to earn him some close attention from the Swans.
But he warned that paying too much attention to one player in a Brisbane forward line that includes Charlie Cameron, Joe Daniher, Linc McCarthy and Daniel McStay would be dicing with danger.
“Our forward line’s working really well together at the moment. One of our strengths as a forward line is we’ve got so many different avenues to goal,” Bailey said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever kicked six before so on the weekend it was a bit surprising.”