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Sport Nation
The things we learnt: You don’t want to play the Lions
Andrew Slevison • July 11th, 2025 9:25 am
The Brisbane Lions are on the premiership prowl.
The reigning premiers were in a savage mood against Carlton on Thursday night.
While challenged at times, in the end they held the Blues at arm’s length throughout the Round 18 opener at Marvel Stadium.
Chris Fagan wanted his side’s tackling and pressure to lift. 35 turnovers in the forward half which led to seven goals (eight behinds) and 20 tackles inside 50 suggests it did.
A 37-point win (103-66) could have been more if they really wanted it to be. It looked like it could have got very ugly when it was 52 points at three-quarter time.
That’s three wins on the trot and they’re on track to nail a top two spot.
That midfield of Lachie Neale, Hugh McCluggage, Josh Dunkley, Jarrod Berry and Will Ashcroft is elite. Throw in Zac Bailey, Cam Rayner and Levi Ashcroft who are often around the ball and it only gets better.
They were beaten at clearance but the overlap run and overall class was on another level to that of their opponents.
You don’t want to play the Lions. Their game is in very good order, and you’d imagine it will only get better.
They do have a very competitive lot of fixtures ahead which will only help them nail things down for a finals assault. That run is: Western Bulldogs (home), Gold Coast (away), Collingwood (away), Sydney (home), Fremantle (away) and Hawthorn (home).
They do need to keep winning to assure top four, but once they get there, look out whoever gets them in September.
What we learnt about Carlton is that it is definitely now time to play the kids.
