Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Look out AFL: The unbeaten reigning premiers have “room for improvement”
Jaiden Sciberras • April 12th, 2025 3:00 pm
Despite going perfect to start the season, the Brisbane Lions are yet to hit the ground running following their 28-point win over Richmond on Saturday.
Claiming four wins from four contests, the Lions have certainly flown out to a formidable start, currently holding status as one of three unbeaten teams in the 2025 season.
However, scraping victory against a struggling Swans side, trailing the Eagles and the Cats for three quarters and most recently conceding Richmond’s largest score for over a year, Brisbane are yet to stake their claim as a truly dominant force.
Following their Round 4 performance, both Nathan Buckley and Gerard Whateley dropped the Lions’ rank in their weekly seedings despite the club’s five-goal win.
Club veteran Dayne Zorko was well aware that the Lions’ performance was not up to the level that the reigning premiers sought from the contest.
“It was obviously great to get the result,” Zorko told SENQ Breakfast.
“However, I still don’t think we quite played the game style that I think we set out to do.
“There was a few positives to come out of it, winning the first quarter, we’ve obviously been under the pump and have had to come from a long way back the first three weeks of the year.
“To actually have a nice lead at quarter-time was great, we continued that into half-time and then we sort of stagnated a bit.
“Red-time goals, so that’s goals in the back half of the quarter, or the last three or four minutes. I think Richmond ended up scoring five goals five in that red-time period, which is a lot.
“I thought majority of the game we played okay; we still need to clean up a few areas and there is still plenty of work to be done.”
While the performances have been far from perfect, Zorko still sees the value in the club’s best footy, not underestimating the importance of their perfect start.
“I think we have shown over these first four weeks what our best football can look like, and how effective we can be when we play it,” he continued.
“It’s disappointing that we just haven’t quite been able to pick that up for four quarters or even three quarters.
“We’ve sort of left our opposition somewhat interested in the game which is obviously a credit to the competition, just how tight and difficult it is to win these games.
“There is still plenty of areas and improvement that we can get right to help separate those margins.
“I’ve spoken a number of times about just how important momentum is… when we are having it, yes, we’re being effective on the scoreboard, but we could be more effective, and conversely, we’re probably a bit sluggish in stopping the opposition’s momentum.
“Heaps of room for improvement, but the fact that we are 4-0 and sitting on the top half of the ladder in contrast to what it was last year, it’s good to have these problems to fix up now.”
A tough contest awaits for Brisbane as they face the Western Bulldogs in a Saturday afternoon Gather Round clash at Norwood Oval.
