Brisbane Lions great Jason Akermanis believes the side’s coaching staff is “just not creative enough”, putting the heat on them along with players he declared “passengers” in big games.
The Lions will host Richmond next week in an elimination final, with senior coach Chris Fagan looking to improve upon a 1-5 record.
Akermanis, a three-time premiership player for the Lions, didn’t write off his former club’s season when asked about it, but said a lot would need to change for them to contend for a flag.
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“I don’t think it’s all over, because you never know, once you come into finals, you only need to hit a purple patch for four weeks and you can be in a grand final,” he told 10 News.
“At the moment, I wouldn’t have thought the trust within the group or even the public is very high at the moment.
“Brisbane have got some issues, mainly with a few players that I would say are just passengers when they need to play big games in finals. There’s some good players in there.
“The guys that seem to go missing – like Jarryd Lyons – your forwards can go missing if your midfield is not on top. They broke even last game but they need a hell of a lot more from both their defence and midfield if they’re going to do that.”
The 2001 Brownlow medallist said the onus was on the coaching staff to mix things up should the side begin to falter against Richmond next week.
“The thing about Brisbane is, despite the talent, the biggest issue they’ve got is probably their coaching group,” he said.
“They’re just not creative enough when it’s going bad to throw a few magnets around and get players to play different roles.
“In the end, if they stick with the team they went in with two weeks ago I’d be quite surprised. There are some players with big question marks so we’ll see what happens at the selection table.”
