Extreme weather across South-East Queensland might have postponed Saturday’s NEAFL curtain raiser, but it failed to dampen the spirits of the Lions Reserves players who ventured down the M1 on Sunday morning to face Gold Coast.

But unlike the previous night’s senior QClash which went down to the wire, the Lions ran out resounding 110-point winners against the Suns Reserves.

The final margin surprised Reserves Coach Leigh Harding and his fellow coaches, who were ‘flying blind’ without access to updated scores throughout the match. 

“There was no scoreboard, at least we didn’t have access to one, so we had no idea what was going on,” Harding said.

“We obviously received score updates at each of the breaks, but I didn’t realise how much we’d won by until after the game.”

“It didn’t feel like a significant margin when we were playing, even though I knew we were well in front.”

The Lions were in control of the contest by half-time courtesy of a nine-goal second quarter, and then stormed home with 10 goals to one in a dominant final term.

“I think we were 4-5 goals up at half time, but then they kicked 3-4 quite quickly (in the third quarter),” Harding said.

“Then in the last quarter…we just seemed to go well.”

The win was soured by an incident which resulted in promising utility Patrick Wearden suffering a badly broken jaw.

“He copped one a little bit high,” Harding said.

“The guy (who hit Wearden) got a few weeks (at the Tribunal), but it looks like Patty will be out for some time with the injury.”

“It’s a real shame because he’s been going really well.”

As expected, there were a number of standouts for the Lions with Sam Docherty listed as the team’s best. 

“Sam played across half-back in the first half, but we put him on the ball after half-time,” Harding said.

“He was very, very good in the second half and got his hands on the footy a lot. It was definitely Sam’s best game for the year.”

Draftee Marco Paparone also seemed to enjoy the wide open spaces of Metricon Stadium, and ran the opposition ragged with 28 disposals, 15 marks and three goals.

“Marco was very good playing as a wingman/half-forward,” Harding said.

“He plays to his strength, being his elite endurance, and used the open spaces that Metricon provides. That’s the beauty with Marco – he just keeps running and presenting.”

Fellow draftee Michael Close also got through his first official hit-out with the Lions after overcoming a foot complaint which delayed his pre-season.

“Michael started forward in first half and kicked a couple of goals, but we decided to send him back after half-time to give him a bit more game-time,” Harding said.

“He definitely knew he’d played a game of footy after the match.”

“We have to keep developing his game. Predominantly he’ll play as a forward, but if we can help his game by playing him in defence at times, then we’ll do it.”

“We’ve also got quite a few talls at our disposal, so sometimes we’ll need to move players back at different times.” 

SCOREBOARD

Brisbane Lions       3.4       12.7    18.10  28.12 (180)
Gold Coast Suns    2.4       5.5       9.7       10.10 (70)

GOALS – Lions: Cornelius 4, Lisle 4, Paparone 3, Karnezis 2, Crisp 2, Bartlett 2, Gribble 2, Close 2, Lester 2, Michael 2, Conway, Docherty, Longer. Suns: Lynch 3, Gorringe 2, Boston, Davidson, Hay, McKenzie, Haberfield.

BEST – Lions: Docherty, Paparone, Bartlett, Longer, Karnezis, Crisp. Suns: Boston, McKenzie, Hay, Lynch, Horsley, Stanley.

LEADING DISPOSALS – Lions: Docherty 35, Karnezis 32, Bartlett 30, Paparone 28, Lester 27, Crisp 24, Lisle 24, Harwood 23.

LEADING MARKS – Lions: Paparone 15, Lisle 9, Docherty 8, Michael 8, Karnezis 7, Lester 7.