Luke Hodge has blasted an “embarrassing” lack of effort from the Brisbane Lions in their 54-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night.
Plenty was expected of a Brisbane outfit that had been bolstered by three new recruits and no.2 draft pick Will Ashcroft, but a devastating second half from the Power saw Chris Fagan’s men start 2023 with a loss.
Hodge believes the Lions may have got ahead of themselves after taking a 12-point lead into half-time and a pre-season of being hyped as premiership contenders.
The four-time premiership player played 41 games with Brisbane in the twilight of his career, providing a unique insight into the Lions under Fagan.
“That was very poor from the Brisbane Lions Football Club,” he told SEN's Sportsday.
“From where they’ve come from, they’ve been top four (across the last four years). The football they played against Geelong in the last practice match was really good, the intensity was up.
“This one (occasion) just looked like a team who thought they were going to do it. They came up against a team who had a lot more intensity, every time Port had the ball they had a free person to pass it to.
“The Lions didn’t want to man up and it was embarrassing to watch the way they played with the list that they have, but then you look at the intensity of Port Adelaide… (they would) be pretty happy.
“The intensity when the Lions had the ball, Port were right in their face they were covering their exits, they gave them not an inch, especially in the second half.”
In disastrous signs for Fagan and Brisbane alike, Port Adelaide won contested possession by a staggering 150-116.
The Lions also allowed 24 marks inside Port's forward 50 to their own six, while they did win the tackle count by two.
However, that stat is paled by the fact Port had a remarkable 141 more disposals.
When pressed further, Hodge singled out Brisbane’s work rate as his primary issue with the performance.
“The system’s good when the attitude’s good,” he added.
“When the attitude is poor the system’s poor. It’s tough when you know a lot of these guys… it looked like the attitude wasn’t there.
“They were going to walk out there and do what they wanted and walk away with a win… their system, when they’re up and about, their system is fine.
“So I’ve got it down to their attitude.”
The task gets no easier for Brisbane when facing Melbourne in Round 2 before travelling to Marvel Stadium to take on the Western Bulldogs in Round 3.