An undermanned Reserves lost by 74-points to Sydney at Newcastle Oval on Saturday.

SYDNEY SWANS 2.5 6.8 10.9 16.14 (110)

BRISBANE 0.1 2.3 3.4 5.6 (36)

GOALS – Sydney: D Towers, 4 T Nankervis, 3 J Rose, 3 S McLaren, 2 J Hiscox, Z Fyffe, C Bird, J Foote. Brisbane: L Harding, J McGuinness, S Copland, M Hammelmann, L Mason.

BEST – Sydney: A Davis, T Derickx, D Towers, J Rose, C Bird, G Hewett. Brisbane: J McGuiness, J Bourke, M Golby, H Beasley, L Mason.

Please find below Coach Shane Woewodin’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions who played against the Swans.

Archie Smith

Battled manfully against two, possibly, three experienced ruckmen. Named him Captain for the day, which was a great experience for him to lead the group out. Offensively he improved, Archie, in terms of his ability to find the ball around the ground – had 15 possessions, which is near on a best for Arch. He’s still got to work hard on his contest stuff and his ability to work hard in defence and his positioning around the ground. It’s good experience for him at the moment.

Josh McGuinnessBest game for the Club, I thought. He took a real step with his footy, saw some really good overlap from him. Better in the tackling this week, played wing for the majority of the day and certainly has now improved his structure and his role and what is required in this area. Much better from Joshy.
Jordon BourkeThat’s three in a row for Bourkey. Again, our defence was under the pump a fair bit with the amount of ball coming in and very undersized. The boys had to play a lot taller on the weekend. Bourkey’s contest work and intercept marking again has been consistent. He’s still working on his offensive game and skill.
Hugh BeasleyLike Bourkey –  a solid performance for us. Certainly playing above his weight at the moment in terms of size. Defensively good in the contest, gave us a little bit down back.
Tom CutlerBack into the side on Saturday, probably played a different role just due to the fact of our lack of experience on the weekend. Probably started him wing/back and we lost one early so had to play him more as an inside mid, just to give us a bigger body and some run out of the midfield. Much better in the contest, found a bit of the ball for us, which was really important. Some of his defensive skills through general play will be his RFI going into next week.
Josh WattsThe third defender who is certainly playing a lot taller than what he should be. Saw some real improvement in his spoiling on the weekend. He didn’t get out marked a helluva lot which is really good. A big focus for him has been his spoiling in the past couple of weeks. Didn’t get a lot of offensive drive from us, probably a little bit sore at the moment, Joshy, and looking forward to the bye.
Sam MayesSammy was back in after an extended lay off with his injury. Good to see him back in, found a lot of the ball in three quarters. He had limited game time, started him in the second term, played wing for the majority of the game. Compliancy by foot not high but good to see him get ball in hands and was much better in the contest which is important for Sammy, I know he’s been working hard on that.
Billy EvansFound a bit more of the ball. Thought he was OK early, Billy, a bit more around the contest. Coughed up a few early and got hit around the head a couple of times. Asked him to go to Bird in the stoppage and do a role for us in that area. Still working on his defensive side of his game, it’s still his RFI.
Matt HammelmannOur only key forward for the day, probably battled a bit against Sydney’s stronger defenders and with a lack of experience around him. Pushed him back down in the last quarter just to get him in the game, get him in some contests which I think he went OK at. Certainly something he could do for us going forward in the back half of the year.
Josh ClaytonPlayed as a forward on the weekend – played on a really good opponent in Aliir Aliir. Like Matty was only one of two forwards with some experience down there for us and battled through the day.
Mitch GolbyProbably a foreign role playing more as an inside mid on the weekend. Battled really hard, I think he had 23 possessions; most importantly he laid 16 effective tackles, I think, out of 20 attempts, so a really good defensive game from Mitch. Strong in the contest, foreign role, but he put his head over it and was important for us throughout the day.