The Brisbane Lions Reserves’ 2014 NEAFL campaign came to a close in Sydney on Saturday, with a tight 15-point loss to minor premiers UWS Giants – 14.14 (98) to 17.11 (113).

Innovation & Development Manager Gary O’Donnell said the Lions had their opportunities to snatch an upset victory.

“We were well in the game. It was very even,” O’Donnell told lions.com.au.

“They beat us by over 100 points at that venue earlier in the season, so it was pleasing to see our boys perform OK against a side that’s pretty good all year.

“The Giants are top of the table and are really serious about winning the competition, and we had a chance with five minutes to go to hit the front and missed. It was razor sharp.

“We gave them three goals on a platter, and probably over the course of the game and we wasted three ourselves.”

O’Donnell said the loss hit the Lions hard.

“The players were visibly disappointed after the game. They all know that some of the blokes were playing their last game with us, and they wanted to send them off with a win,” he said.

The loss left the Lions six wins shy of the NEAFL top six – meaning they won’t get a chance to defend their back-to-back titles from 2012 and 2013.

Please find below Gary O’Donnell’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions who played against the UWS Giants on Saturday.

 

Nick Robertson

Only played half a game as the senior emergency. Played mainly across half-back. Didn’t have a big influence on game, but ran strongly. Still learning the craft.

Jordan Lisle

Played forward all day and kicked 4.4, although didn’t get reward for his effort. Probably should have kicked 6.2. Had he kicked six, we probably would have won.

Matthew Leuenberger

Probably his best game since returning from injury. Kicked four – and missed another one on the run from the goal square. Had 20-odd touches and did some good ruck work as well. He spent half his time forward, and the other half in the ruck. Of his goals, only one was from a mark. The other three were kicked at ground level.

Andrew Raines

Rainsey just keeps on keeping on. Had mid-20 possessions, playing mostly on the wing and a little bit inside. Didn’t take a stranglehold of the game, but was serviceable.

Ryan Lester

Had a very quiet first half during which he only had three touches. But he fought back with 16 possessions and a goal in second half. He spread well from stoppages and helped put us in a good position to win the game.

Jackson Paine

Started like he finished the week before, kicking two goals early – one from a crumb and another from a mark. He went out of the game a bit after that. Probably could have gotten a few more frees from the umpires.

Isaac Conway

Played half-forward and on-ball. Didn’t have a big influence on the game. Would have finished with a dozen or so disposals. His GPS numbers said that he covered high metres.

Mitch Golby

Played on the wing for a quarter, then we sent him back because it seemed like every time they went forward, they scored, so we wanted more maturity and organisation down there. It was his second game back from injury.

Nick Hayes

Was OK. Got 20-odd possessions as a midfielder. He also had 11 clearances and eight tackles, and was very clean. One of our better players on the day.

Archie Smith

Probably had a day to forget. Wasn’t in it very much. Played forward/ruck in tandem with Leuey, and was beaten fairly comfortably by a couple of big opposition ruckmen. Still learning the caper.

Jordon Bourke

Started slowly again, and made a couple of bad errors and turnovers early. But after quarter time, he was much better. Not as good as last week, however.

Sam Michael

Played back for three quarters, and then went in ruck to replace Archie. He was a touch flat, but gave us a contest in last quarter when it started raining.

Zac O’Brien

As usual, had plenty of the ball – high 20-possessions. But he played on Sam Reid, who kicked four goals and was probably the Giants’ best player. Lowered his colours a little.