Consistency has been a challenge for the Brisbane Lions' NEAFL team throughout the year but Development Coach Paul Henriksen believes the team have turned a corner and are now playing their preferred brand of football.
A blistering final quarter against the Swans at the SCG, saw the Lions make it back-to-back wins.
The Lions piled on seven goals to one in the final stanza to win by 61 points on Saturday afternoon.
Coincidentally, the last time the two teams met at the SCG, the Lions prevailed in the NEAFL Grand Final thriller to win the premiership.
“It was always going to be a challenge for us to head down to the SCG but a lot of the boys were looking forward to it,” Henriksen said.
“We’ve got a fairly different squad [to the Grand Final] and so have they, but it was good to focus on what we need to do, which is to get some winning happening in our team.
“We started the year really strongly but through the middle part of the year, we went through a string of losses but now we are starting to put together some wins.
“The wheels are starting to turn for us this latter part of the year."
Henriksen said the Senior players are leading the way, with their recent form propelling the team back into finals contention.
Against the Swans, nine players recorded more than 20 disposals and five kicked multiple goals.
“Our Senior players again stood up, we’ve challenged our Senior group in the NEAFL over the past few weeks and again they’ve stood up,” Henriksen said.
“Claye Beams has been outstanding in the middle.
“Ben Keays has been busy for us and has been providing a lot of energy around the group.
“Jack Frost had probably his best game for the year and Sam Skinner has started to show, coming off those knee reconstructions, that he’s got something to offer going forward.”
With the Lions sitting sixth on the ladder and with only two games left to play, Henriksen said the team has been treating each game like a final.
“If we can win those last two games it’ll give us every chance of making the finals,” he said.
The side will rest this weekend with a bye. The majority of the team will remain in Brisbane and train on Saturday morning. The first-year players will travel to the home of football as part of their development.
“We’re exposing them to Melbourne, we’ll take them to three AFL games,” Henriksen said.
“It’s a really important part of our curriculum for our first-year players to get an understanding of what goes on in Melbourne but also for them to look at players and look at other teams and what they’re doing.”
The NEAFL side will meet the Gold Coast and GWS in their final two games.
