A former star Melbourne midfielder has been credited with being the brains behind a brilliant Brisbane move that was critical to the Demons exiting the finals in straight-sets.
The Lions pulled off a stunning semi-final upset victory on Friday night, booting 11 goals to five after half-time to record a 13-point win over reigning premiers Melbourne.
A key reason behind the Lions’ second-half surge was the performance of Jarrod Berry, who was moved from the wing onto the ball at half-time.
Watch every match prior to the AFL grand final Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
After Clayton Oliver broke free of Deven Robertson’s tag, Berry went to the Dees star and held him to nine touches for the last two quarters. Just as importantly, Berry had 22 disposals and four clearances himself as Brisbane completed a 41-point turnaround.
Speaking to reporters post-game, Lions coach Chris Fagan said Berry’s move was “very, very important” to his side’s fightback.
But Fagan admitted he wasn’t the man behind the call.
“I won’t take the credit for that one because Cam Bruce, who’s joined our coaching group this year, suggested it at half-time – forcefully,” Fagan told reporters. “I took his advice and it ended up being a great move.
“He was fantastic, Berry, for us. He played on Clayton Oliver, who was a star of a player, and managed to quieten him, but he won a fair bit of the ball himself.”
Fagan said Berry had even suggested to the coach in the lead-up to the game that he would be an appropriate match-up for Oliver.
“I must admit, (Berry) sent me a text on the weekend asking could he do the role – and I thought no, we’ll give Dev a go first-up. Anyway, as it turned out he ended up with the role and did it particularly well,”
“We had seven guys with 50 games or less experience tonight playing out there, so for them to get that experience in a big game in front of a big crowd (was invaluable).”
The Lions are through to their second preliminary final in three seasons, despite heading into Friday night’s clash as significant underdogs after Melbourne recorded dominant wins in the two clubs’ previous three clashes.
Fagan conceded his side “got caught up into the verbal stuff a little bit too much in the games” against Melbourne, prompting the coach to reset his team’s mindset,
“We had a really good talk about our mindset in finals and not letting all that peripheral stuff interrupt our processes. I thought we‘re able to do that well last week against Richmond and then we get the opportunity to try it out against the team that sort of rattled us the most this year,” he said.
“I thought we stood up well. We just kept going after the football, kept trying to put pressure on them to keep their minds in the game so they didn‘t lose heart and faith when we were under the pump.
“They‘re all the things that you need in finals that you know it’s all about moments and hanging in there sometimes and we did that tonight and we got a reward.”
The Lions have been on the end of heartbreaking semi-finals losses in previous seasons, losing to the Giants by three points in 2019 then to the Bulldogs by one point last year.
Fagan said the lessons from past finals despair were driving the club’s 2022 flag tilt.
“I always think you‘ve got to go through a process. It’s not ‘you suddenly get good and then suddenly you win a premiership’,” he said. “It takes a little bit longer than that and I think it is a process.
“All the lessons that we‘ve learnt in finals over the last few years are starting to come to fruition. We were getting a bad rap for our finals record, but the truth is … we were a whisker away from two more prelims. I don’t see those as bad losses. They’re just sometimes the bounce of the ball or a decision here and there or a skill error.
“I‘ve always had faith in this group that we could find a way. I suppose with the way I coach, we always talk about having a growth mindset and that everything that happens to us there’s a reason for it. As long as you learn from it and make progress, all those mistakes are OK.”
