DRAFTEE Billy Longer was the shining light in a tough day for the Lions against Essendon at Visy Park on Saturday.
Longer played beyond his age and experience to provide some hope up forward, kicking two goals and showing he is ready for the challenge of round one if selected.
Longer, the former Northern Knights ruckman taken at No.8 at the 2011 NAB AFL Draft, finished with two goals and was helped with some good midfield work by another young Lion in Jared Polec.
Second-year onballer Polec battled hard throughout to finish with 19 touches and Pearce Hanley topped the Lions' possession getters with 22 touches..
But it was Essendon's Michael Hurley who was the star of the day, booting five goals to propel Essendon to a convincing 56-point win.
The Bombers kept the Lions to just one goal in the first half with Hurley easily the most dangerous forward on the ground in the 16.16 (112) to 8.8 (56) win.
Hurley survived a scare in the third quarter when a heavy hit from Pearce Hanley in a marking contest saw him lay motionless on the ground before getting to his feet to kick his third goal.
Essendon skipper Jobe Watson was all class around the stoppages with 22 possessions and he received plenty of help in the form of Brent Stanton (25 disposals), David Zaharakis (23) and Courtenay Dempsey (21), who continued his stellar comeback from a long-term knee injury.
The Dons leapt out to 29-point lead at the first break and extended that to 38 at half-time. The Lions enjoyed their best quarter of the match in the third period with four goals, but were unable to continue that effort in the final term.
"We had no ball flow," Lions coach Michael Voss lamented after the match.
"Getting our hands on the footy was proving a battle.
"We tried a few different things, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter what you try and do if you can't get your hands on the footy. It's pretty hard to change anything really.
"To Essendon's credit they were stronger over the footy."
Despite his disappointment at several aspects of the performance, Voss was happy to have had some weaknesses exposed in time to allow some tinkering ahead of the season opener against Melbourne at the MCG.
ESSENDON 5.6 6.11 10.14 16.16 (112)
BRISBANE LIONS 1.1 1.3 5.7 8.8 (56)
GOALS
Essendon: Hurley 5, Crameri 2, Zaharakis 2, Melksham 2, Watson, Dempsey, Jetta, McVeigh, Monfries.
Brisbane Lions: Longer 2, Black, Leuenberger, Rich, Merrett, Karnezis, Redden.
BEST
Essendon: Hurley, Watson, Stanton Dempsey, Zaharakis, Hille.
Brisbane Lions: Hanley, Maguire, Polec, Golby, Black, Redden.
INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
Brisbane Lions: Rockliff (migraine)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Grun, Jeffery, Keating
Estimated crowd: 3500 at Visy Park
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
