“He’s not playing finals”: Lions defender in the gun following poor Friday night showing

Dermott Brereton has stressed the importance Jack Payne is to the Brisbane Lions after the Lions defender was absent on Friday night.

With Payne missing due to a foot injury, Chris Fagan had to call upon former St Kilda defender Darragh Joyce to step up and fill the void left by Payne.

Playing on the likes of Jacob van Rooyen and Harrison Petty throughout the night, Joyce looked second rate and it yet again highlighted the importance of Payne given his ability to lock down the competitions best key forwards.

“Everybody who plays league football is a good player and he’s a lovely young man but every time it went to him and his opponent, Darragh Joyce got beaten in the air,” Brereton told SEN’s Crunch Time.

“He’s not playing finals, he’s filling in at the moment and well done to him as he’s playing league footy but you need Jack Payne back down there.

“Every time somebody took a mark in the first half and the highlight package came up and I looked at it and I went ‘he’s playing on Darragh Joyce’ and it happened again and again and again.

“Well done to the young man playing footy and extending his dream which is awesome but if they’re playing their best team, they’re not getting out marked one on one six times inside the forward 50 when they’re 25 metres out.”

Petty and van Rooyen combined for 16 marks and six shots on goal on Friday night.

Joyce collected 15 touches in his sides five-point win. He signed with the Lions as a rookie at the end of 2022 after being delisted by the Saints.