David King was impressed by a couple of aspects of Brisbane’s game in their thrilling one-point win over Collingwood on Thursday night.
In particular, the North Melbourne great loved the way the Lions went about denying Magpies defender Darcy Moore by kicking over and around him at every opportunity.
Moore took seven marks and had 14 disposals, up against Joe Daniher who returned three goals (three behinds), eight marks and 18 disposals.
Against Carlton last week, Moore amassed 18 intercept possessions in a sublime display of aerial prowess but against the Lions he had just one intercept mark and a total of seven intercept possessions.
King liked the way Brisbane coach Chris Fagan instructed Daniher and Eric Hipwood to get on their bikes in order to help take Moore’s best attribute away.
“He (Daniher) certainly took him up and back early. Joe did a great job and Hipwood at times, it’s a tandem operation,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“When you saw what he did against Carlton the week prior, it was ridiculous. He was a one-man wall.
“This is the beauty of coaching. When we talk about the result and maximising your assets and minimising the oppositions, I’ve got no doubt Brisbane would have talked about Darcy Moore for two training sessions. ‘Don’t kick it there, don’t go long, don’t do this’, but under pressure you can fall back into those habits.
“Great coaching from Chris Fagan and if they don’t do that, they’re 0-3, simple as that.”
King also liked the performance of veteran half-back Daniel Rich who had 28 touches overall but was particularly important late in the game, kicking a long goal and setting up Zac Bailey’s match-winner.
The two-time premiership player was responding to texts from listeners criticising some Lions, including Rich, when he leapt to the defence of the 30-year-old.
“He had 10 touches in the last quarter, five of them went inside 50 and he had four score involvements,” King added.
“The Lions only scored seven times (in the fourth term) and he was involved in four of them, (plus) the most important one at the end. Sometimes it’s just a little bit of composure.
“If it wasn’t Daniel Rich ball in hand, who else would have been able to laser that ball and put it on the dime?
“We agree to disagree. This is the beauty of footy, we all see it differently.”
The Lions resurrected their season to go 1-2 following losses to Sydney in Round 1 and Geelong (by a point) in Round 2.
They next take on the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat next Saturday afternoon as they remain away from Brisbane following COVID complications.