Roos and Lions: Looking Forward

Two teams which didn't make an impact on 2006 or leave much of a mark during trade week (except the Acker deal) are already looking forward to next season and planning ahead. However I don't think that the Kangaroos and Lions got the message; so are the 14 other teams!

It's good to see that the Roos are predicting a strong season next year. It'll be even better to see the struggling club back up those words and bounce back. This especially comes after a season in which a top draft pick quit footy altogether, they lost their stronghold of Manuka oval, and their clubhouse was damaged by fire. Talk of a move or a merger is going to haunt this club until they can win another premiership.

It seems that Wayne Carey left a curse on his former team. Leaving the club won 2 premierships with in 2002 due to the disgrace of sleeping with captain, Anthony Steven's wife, he moved to Adelaide in 2003. Since that the time the club has seen nothing but season after mediocre season go by.

Who would have thought that the most powerful team of the mid to late 90's would ever be in this sort of position. Who ever would have thought that membership was flailing much like it is with the other Victorian non-Collingwood clubs.

10 years ago I would have laughed and been delighted at the prospect of seeing the Kangaroos, or at the time, North Melbourne, suffer. Today the joke is past and in all seriousness, if things don't improve on and off the field, another move or merger or disappearance may take place in the AFL, and those are the saddest things to witness.

Take for instance Fitzroy. Although they are now formally a part of Brisbane, keeping their team name, colours and other such traditions. The name Fitzroy only lives on in those that supported the Lions before 1997. Today every one else just envisions them as the Brisbane Lions....the team that used to be called the Brisbane Bears, and the same side that struggled much like Fitzroy did, for most the 80's and 90's.

I was lucky to attend Fitzroys last ever VFL/AFL match, which was at Subiaco oval in 1996. The Lions played a determined Dockers side, the only team to lose to Fitzroy in that season and utterly humiliated. However this time around the farewell was more fitting for a club that had struggled throughout most of its existance, with the Dockers winning in excess of a hundred points. I waved a Lions flag that day, as a sign of respect and tribute to one of the founding clubs of Aussie Rules footy.

I don't want to have to wave the blue and white in a few years time for the same reason.

The upside for Fitzroy and their supporters is that in those magical years between 2001 and 2003, they enjoyed 3 consecutive premierships. The first one was monumental. A victory against Essendon, a club whose flag win the previous year when they were at their strongest, was a time when AFL attendance and viewing was at an all time low in Australia. The Lions success in 2001 was the ressurection of our great sport, and their great matches between the Pies the 2 years after that were even greater.

Brisbane find themselves in a similar position to the Roos. Although their last premiership comes at a more recent time, they will still suffer the consequences of underperforming, especially in Queensland where League is still the more popular code.

The Lions will need to regroup, stay positive, and most importantly, they will have to reconsider their game-plan. This comes from one sole reason: The Lions are a fast running, man-on-man team who play offensively. The current trend of teams that are on the rise in the AFL at the moment is to play defensively, slow the game down, and flood the oppositions forward 50. The only team that has been able to play against these tactics are West Coast, who won the premiership this year (against the most defensive side in the AFL).

The Lions simply do not have the running power, the tall players, and the superb midfield that the Eagles have. If Brisbane want to have success in 2007, they will have to reconsider what they have been doing since 2004, especially in their matches against West Coast. Brisbane has failed to beat the Eagles since 2002, even at their home ground of the Gabba they have been defeated convincingly on numerous occasions. This is because the Lions have attempted to go for a shootout against the biggest shooting side in the competition, however Brisbane have failed to realise recently - they aren't in the same league anymore.

Sure in 2001 they may have been a mighty opponent for any side. The same goes for 2002, 2003 and even in 2004 where they lost in the Grand Final to Port Adealaide. However they had an ageing side. Many former stars from Fitzroy including the legendary Alistair Lynch, who had served both clubs with loyalty and honour, was on the way out. Keating, Voss, Ackermanis, Michael, ageing, retired, or traded.

The one positive thing that the Lions now have in their possession is the potential for Jonathon Brown to return and blast the competition away next season. However this remains to be seen, he is young yet now prone to injury and form may be doubtful. It would be good to see him bag a hundred, or even the Coleman medal, yet other areas of the team need to be looked at in order for his own performance to shine. This means that Brisbane will have to look at rebuilding their famous star midfield that they once had. It's hard work though, and great midfielders do not just grow on trees.

Brisbane and the Kangaroos do have a lot to look forward to in 2007. So do 14 other clubs. Yet the difference is that these two sides really have the opportunity now to prove their critics wrong. They have a window where they can learn from recent mistakes, learn from defeats, learn from each other, and they can make an impact on the game next season.

Yet as I like to say; Only time will tell.