FOR HIS two seasons in charge Michael Voss has craved more scoreboard contributors from his Brisbane Lions, and in Sunday's first derby win over neighbouring Gold Coast he got it.
For too long the load has been shouldered by Jonathan Brown, but with an infected knee still keeping the captain on the sidelines, his teammates stepped up.
The Lions had 13 individual goalkickers in their 17.19 (121) to 7.12 (54) win at Southport, Brent Staker the most prolific of those with three goals.
After a slow start to the new derby - a match that will be known as the Queensland Clash or 'Qclash' in premiership season matches between the two Queensland teams - the Lions sprung to life and turned the game on its head with a seven-goal-to-one second quarter.
Tom Rockliff and Mitch Clark added two each and another 10 Lions jumped in with a single goal.
"We've had to change a few things in our forward structure," Voss said.
"But the challenge will be the next stage and can we ignore the big fella (Brown) when he's running in front of us and still find those extras.
"We've spent a fair bit of time on midfielders joining in on goalkicking and also our half-forwards and the role they play.
The Lions were best served by some of its young brigade who ran the four quarters out strongly and Voss could not have been more pleased.
Irishman Pearce Hanley was full of run from half-back and used the ball well, while Jesse O'Brien and Claye Beams also showed they may have a place in the team this season.
"I think the guys over the course of the pre-season should come in (to round one) reasonably confident with each other and what they can do," Voss said
"We've been able to build our pre-season slowly and there's been a lot of significant events for us over the pre-season. They have continuity in their bodies, they're fit and we've found a few players."
Both teams were below full strength with the Lions missing Brown and half-back Josh Drummond while the Suns were without Gary Ablett, Campbell Brown, Nathan Bock and Jared Brennan.
The match had moments with some genuine feeling, with former Lion Michael Rischitelli and James Polkinghorne getting into some heated push-and-shove inside the first five minutes.
But once the Lions opened up their running game in the second quarter and kicked seven unanswered goals in 14 minutes, the contest was over.
Suns coach Guy McKenna said his team needed to work on their stoppages and run to complete four quarters.
"In quite a simplistic way, when they have the ball they can play the way they want to play and they kick goals, and when we did that we kicked goals too," he said.
"But in the second quarter we just couldn't get near it. It's a bit hard to wheel-and-go when you don't get it. It's more about our stoppage and our clearance set-ups.
"If we get that right, we win the ball and get it forward we're half a chance of scoring."
League convert Karmichael Hunt received praise from McKenna for his work in defence.
BRISBANE LIONS 2.5 9.10 12.16 17.20 (122)
GOLD COAST 3.2 4.4 6.9 7.12 (54)
GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Staker 3, Clark 2, Rocklif 2, Power, Rich, Banfield, Black, Redden, O'Brien, Maguire, Raines, Bewick, Beams
Gold Coast: Dixon 2, Flanagan, Fraser, Patrick, Krakouer, Matera
BEST
Brisbane Lions: Hanley, Staker, Rich, O'Brien, Beams, McGrath
Gold Coast: Swallow, Matera, Fraser, Dixon, Tape
INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: McCauley (ankle)
Gold Coast: Daye (shoulder)
Reports: Nil
Official crowd: 4053 at Southprt
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
