Matt Rendell says he’s “worried” about Brisbane after seeing a flaw in their game exposed in their loss to Melbourne last Friday night.
After holding a 20-point lead at half-time, the Lions were well beaten in the end as the Dees took complete control of the game in the middle.
But Rendell said Brisbane’s issue were in defence, saying they suffered from a lack of leg speed and quick ball movement in the back half.
“I’m a bit worried about Brisbane after having a good look at them against Melbourne on the weekend,” he said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“I didn’t realise that they don’t go quick and kick the ball around defence, they did it against Melbourne … they haven’t got any runners out of defence and that’s why they do it.
“They’re all mark, stop and kick players and even Grant Birchell used to be a runner, but he isn’t a runner anymore.
“They like getting the ball to (Daniel) Rich coming out of defence, because he can kick it long but he’s not really a runner.
“The one who can run back there is (Callum) Ah Chee, but he’s looking after the forwards and he’s really under the pump massively.
Rendell urged Lions coach Chris Fagan to “experiment” ahead of the finals by trialling the likes of Dayne Zorko or Hugh McCluggage down back.
“They need to experiment before the end of the year and I’m even thinking they’ll throw (Dayne) Zorko and (Hugh) McCluggage in defence,” he said.
“Even Lachie Neale, someone is getting tagged in their team every week so I’d put (one of the midfielders) in defence, they have three really good runners there who play on ball – (Jarred) Lyons you’ll leave on ball because he’s not going to be a runner but the others can run and distribute.
“If I was Brisbane, I would be experimenting and changing that mix up in defence.”