How will Brisbane go about quelling the influence of Melbourne captain Max Gawn?
That is the question David King has asked ahead of Friday night’s Semi Final clash between the two clubs at the MCG.
The Lions have lost number one ruckman Oscar McInerney to concussion with Darcy Fort brought in to replace him.
After McInerney went down early in last week’s dramatic Elimination Final win over Richmond, Dan McStay and Joe Daniher shared the duties with the former executing his role fairly well.
Daniher has since withdrawn from the match due to personal reasons with Tom Fullarton as his replacement.
Discussing the cut-throat final, Kane Cornes and King wonder how the Lions will fare in the ruck given the presence of Demons star Gawn and his offsider Luke Jackson.
King asked on SEN Breakfast: “Would you bring in Darcy Fort? I know he’s named, I’m just not sold on this.”
Cornes feels there would be an element of risk in going with just McStay and Daniher.
“I just think it is too risky to ask Dan McStay and Joe Daniher to ruck against Max Gawn and Luke Jackson,” he said.
“It is a safe move. He has to take some heat and stamina out of Gawn and Jackson. You can’t have two fresh ruckmen going up against McStay.
“Daniher is a reluctant ruckman. He doesn’t want to be in there, neither does McStay, so at least I think he (Fort) bashes and crashes for the first half.
“If you have to sub him out in the second half, you sub him out and you go small and bring up a key forward to ruck if it’s not working.”
Given the presence of Fort, who has played just 25 games, King sees it as a great opportunity for Gawn to fill up and influence the game with a best-on-ground performance.
“I’d love to see them go with a wildcard of no recognised ruckmen,” King said.
“Oscar McInerney is a big absence for them, I think he’s a top-liner as a ruckman. His hit-out stuff is underrated.
“Max Gawn must look at this game and say this is what I’m up against tonight. Two guys (McStay and Daniher) who don’t want to play ruck and a guy (Fort) who has played 25 games and is 29 years of age. There’s a reason for that.
“This has got Max Gawn BOG written all over it.”
Furthermore, Cornes is struggling to see how the Lions can win at the MCG.
“I can’t see a way, I can’t mount a case for Brisbane winning this game of football,” he said.
“Kingy, can you?”
King believes it would be a superb piece of coaching from Chris Fagan if he is to guide the Lions beyond Simon Goodwin’s reigning premiers.
“They’re going to have to do it with something different,” he said.
“It would be a great coaching feat, put it that way, because the odds are stacked against them.
“They have been the whipping boys for the Melbourne Football Club, so they’ve got to do something different. They can’t just play boring, long, down the line football and expect Max Gawn and Luke Jackson and Steven May and Jake Lever won’t pick them off.
“I want to see them play with some real dare. Embrace the shootout in this game, take corridor, take risks, play small ball, try and get those half-forwards involved.
“If they’re going to win it you’d think it would be the small forward line that would kick goals against Melbourne.”
The Dees have destroyed the Lions twice this season, winning by 64 points at the ‘G in Round 15 and 58 points at the Gabba in Round 23.