Why the Lions are the “greatest certainty” against Freo

The Brisbane Lions are in the gun ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash with Fremantle.

The back-to-back reigning premiers have lost by a combined 119 points to Geelong (41) and GWS (78) over the past two weeks. That includes conceding 14 goals in the third quarter to the Giants last weekend.

Kane Cornes believes Lions coach Chris Fagan should have made more of a statement at the selection table rather than omitting inexperienced trio Will McLachlan, Sam Marshall and James Tunstill who have been replaced by Jarrod Berry, Noah Answerth and Cody Curtin.

“I look at the result from Brisbane and it's a theme that I've been running with for a while,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.

“After they got destroyed by Geelong I said, ‘look at the names, no one will pay the price at selection’. Chris Fagan, one of his great strengths is his loyalty to his players.

“It's the same names that always lose their place in the side. It is never a name of substance. So I see that they conceded 14 goals in one quarter. Who pays the price at selection? McLachlan, Marshall and Tunstill. The same crew.

“So this is the last chance. For the likes of Jaspa Fletcher, and I hate to say it, Hugh McCluggage, for our boy. There's, you would think, some nervous names at Brisbane, but they're never nervous because they can play as badly as you like, they will never pay the price at selection.

“It's worked wonders for him, but I just wonder for how long.”

Co-host David King is also looking at the Brissie v Freo game, suggesting the Lions are certainties to bounce back at the Gabba.

King reckons if Justin Longmuir’s Dockers play slowly, as they have done of late, it will make it hard for them to get up despite winning 10 on the trot.

“The greatest certainty of all time this week, the Lions,” King said.

“The reason why the Lions are struggling is teams are going at them.

“Snails fail in September. Freo are now playing almost as slow as what they were last year. The last four weeks it is stop, stop, stop.

“It's a gap between disposing the ball of one second or three seconds. How long do you hold onto the ball? In two seconds, teams get organised defensively and it makes it really hard to score.

“I think they've got to get themselves going again. They were very good in the first six weeks and they've slowed right up.

“So I think you'll see what slow footy against Brisbane does. Less chasing, you're not going to see those guys like Cam Rayner, Zac Bailey and Kai Lohmann get exposed defensively like we have the last few weeks.”

The 6-5 Lions currently sit eighth on the ladder while the 10-1 Dockers sit atop the standings ahead of the Gabba clash.