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Zorko sledge upsets Petty
After post-match interviews with Max Gawn and Melbourne footy manager Alan Richardson, it sounds like Zorko’s sledge was what brought Petty to tears at three-quarter time. Richardson said it might’ve been about a member of Petty’s family.
The incident led to stern words being had between Melbourne players and Zorko even after the final siren sounded.
Good night
By Ronny Lerner
And thus ends a controversial evening at the Gabba.
While Melbourne brutally dismantled the Lions, their brilliant performance was quickly overshadowed by an unsavoury incident between Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko and Melbourne defender Harrison Petty.
At this stage, it sounds as though Zorko directed a derogatory sledge towards Petty about one of the Demon’s family members. It was enough to bring Petty to tears at three-quarter time.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin confirmed post-match that the AFL would be looking into it.
But back to matters on field, and the Demons were absolutely sensational.
They now sit in second spot on the ladder, and are a decent chance of staying there, even if Sydney beat St Kilda on Sunday.
As for Brisbane, they are clinging to fourth spot by their fingernails. A win for either Collingwood or Fremantle against Carlton or GWS respectively will see the Lions miss out on the double chance.
But the key takeaway tonight is that, despite a stop-start second half of the season, the Demons are still the real deal, and they are neck deep in this premiership race.
Thanks for tuning in tonight, and be sure to join us tomorrow for our last Saturday mega blog of the year.
Demons sing the song
Melbourne get a rousing reception from their fans before singing the song in the rooms…
‘A very ugly loss for Lions’
By Andrew Stafford
A very ugly loss for Lions. And not often a captain – Gawn – calls out his opposite number for sledging. That stuff usually stays on field.
Psychological damage only as bad ‘as we allow it’: Fagan
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan spoke to the media after the game…
Q: Obviously disappointing result tonight. What aspect of that loss hits hardest right now?
A: Probably particularly it in the first half, more our ability to spread to the next contest, I thought Melbourne did that much better than we did in the first half. We certainly got better in the second half. I think we won the second half. We were much more competitive in the second half. But that was probably the biggest issue and we turned the ball over a little bit for them. Some of those turnovers you couldn’t defend. So they were a little bit difficult in that regard. Melbourne had an unbelievable night in front of goals. They kicked some great goals and they were able to capitalise on all the opportunities that they created for themselves or we presented to them by our ball use. So particularly in the first half. Yeah, that’s what I would say.
Q: How much damage does that do psychologically heading into the finals? How much of a dent is that to your confidence moving into the finals? Do you just brush it off or does that linger a bit, do you think?
A: Oh I suppose as much as we allow it to, in a sense. I mean, Melbourne gave us a hiding back in round 15 and we recovered well to play a good game against the Dogs the next week. So we’ve got that capacity to recover. We’ve got two weeks to do it. Like tonight, interestingly enough, statistically, the game wasn’t like the belting we got in round 15. Like, we were minus 19 or something in inside 50s in that game. Tonight we were in the positive. We created more opportunities for ourselves, but basically, in our own forward 50, we couldn’t win the contested ball. We went down by 10 in contested ball. Last game it was 38. Tonight we were minus 17, minus 18 in the forward 50. So credit to their defenders and their team defence, that they didn’t allow us to score, but in lots of ways we did better tonight against Melbourne than we have done for a while. It might sound strange for me to say that, but we actually have to pick out some of the positives. We had 28 forward-half turnovers but we weren’t able to turn those into scores well enough. We banged the ball back in, instead of lowering our eyes. When we lowered our eyes, we created opportunities for ourselves. Even the shot differential, last time they had 19 more shots. Tonight it was eight more shots. So as a coach, I’m going to look for some of the positives. I realise it wasn’t a brilliant performance for us by any stretch of the imagination. The most disappointing thing was probably our spread from contest to contest. And our inability to win the ball when it hit the deck in our forward line.
Lions will investigate Zorko sledge further
Brisbane football manager Danny Daly spoke to Channel Seven after the game…
Q: Danny, are you able to give us a word on what you think occurred out there tonight between Harrison Petty and Dayne Zorko?
A: I was alerted by an incident that happened by (Melbourne football manager) Alan Richardson. We spoke to our player. He has apologised to the Melbourne player. I have apologised to the Melbourne Football Club straight after the game. Obviously we’ll investigate it a bit further once the boys have showered up, etc.
Q: Have you been able to speak to Dayne Zorko about it?
A: No, haven’t spoken to any of our players yet.
AFL will look into Zorko-Petty incident: Goodwin
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin spoke to the media after the game…
Q: We’ll get to the game in a moment but can you tell us what happened at three-quarter time there? We saw some scenes we don’t usually see, obviously something happened between Dayne Zorko and Harrison Petty?
A: ‘Petts thought he had heard something inappropriate about a family member. He was a bit upset about it. Brisbane have spoken to us, and obviously the AFL will look at it, but that’s pretty much all the details that we’ll give at the moment. It’s going to hand over to the AFL. But ‘Petts’ was a bit emotional. He went away, reset himself and came back into the game. So that’s the most details we’ll go into today. But as I said, Brisbane have been quite apologetic towards us, and that’s the type of club they are. They’re a very respected, humble club.
Q: How is Harrison now?
A: He’s fine. Yeah. So he’s all good. As I said, he reset himself, took some time out, regathered himself, then came back into the game. His last quarter was pretty strong.
Q: Luke Jackson, got subbed out of the game. Is it knee?
A: No, he just had a corky to his calf. Top of his calf. He had it for the majority of game and it started to tighten up late in the game. We’ll see how that settles town in the next few days.
Q: What did you make of the performance? It was emphatic from the get-go?
A: It was, and I thought, I’m so proud of our playing group and our club in general. To be able to focus on what we could control tonight, and come out and start the way we started with the intensity, in another big game, it was just brilliant the way the players went about it. I’m very proud of our club. To be sitting in this position, to give ourselves the chance, as most coaches will say, that season is now done and we start another one. We’ve given ourselves a chance to prepare really well and give ourselves the best chance to perform.
Q: Do you feel like you’ve got Brisbane’s number? You’ve handled them pretty easily now three or four times in a row.
A: Not at all. They’re a high-quality team. They’re a contest team, in the second half they showed us again that they have the ability to do that and challenge. But we’ve had some good results in recent times but they’re very contested games, very physical games, and we’ve got the utmost respect for them as a club. They haven’t been in this position over three or four years for no reason. They’re a high-quality footy team.
Q: Do you guys get a sniff of finals and that’s why you’ve risen tonight? That must be nearly as close to as good a footy as you played this year?
A: We’ve been building the last six or seven weeks. We’ve been really happy with our form and the way we’re setting our game to play finals footy. Tonight was the first example of being able to do that. That was a finals-like atmosphere. To come out and deliver, our playing group have learned over the last couple of years what it takes to perform in big games. Tonight as a playing group they understood what was needed and they executed.
Q: Given the stakes that were on the game going into it, I mean, how much does it mean coming out of it? Do you care whether it’s (position number) two or three (on the ladder)? You’re in two now, but it depends on what happens in other results?
A: Just control what we can control. We can’t do anything about that now. It will either be two or three. Wherever that sits, that’s OK with us. We’ll just take on the challenge and look forward to it. That season is now done. A new season begins. We have some time to rest up the next three days, mentally refresh and come back ready to go.
Pert hails Melbourne’s ‘best game for the year’
Melbourne CEO Gary Pert spoke to Channel Seven after the game…
Q: How are you?
A: I think that was probably our best game for the year. It was just like four quarters and I think every player contributed. We hurt them on the scoreboard as well. We’ve been trying to build momentum going into the finals. All the Dees supporters would be pretty happy with that.
Q: We’ve got a long way to go this weekend, but do you know what the outcome could be for you?
A: There’s so many combinations. We get the win, sit back, watch the other results. We’ve come out without any injuries as well. All in pretty good shape.
Yze ‘really proud’ of Melbourne
Melbourne assistant Adem Yze spoke to Channel Seven after the game…
Q: Adem? What did you make of that?
A: It was a terrific win. Obviously hostile environment, against a really strong contested team, and it was a finals-like atmosphere. We were really proud of the boys.
Q: What do you pull out of that, a week before the finals. What do you take away from tonight?
A: A few days off now, knowing our game’s in good check. There are some things we need to work on, but our boys are really proud of the effort, and they will enjoy the next three days.
Q: Anything to do tonight? I know you go home in the morning?
A: They’ll go back tomorrow morning. Our reserves play up here tomorrow. I think they’re undefeated. Hopefully it will be just a nice three days, mentally refresh, leading into finals.
‘Up to you St Kilda’: Roffey urges Saints upset
Melbourne president Kate Roffey spoke to Channel Seven after the game…
Q: Here is Kate Roffey the president. Here she is. You must be thrilled, back in September?
A: I’m delighted. That was a cracking game. I haven’t seen them smile so much when they’ve played here for a long time. The fans here were fantastic.
Q: You were watching the percentage at the end there.
A: I’m always on the percentage. It’s really important, and to come away with such a good
win as we head into finals, it’s so fantastic. There will be a few teams out there watching that game.A really great crowd. Really good to win away from home.
Q: That’s 11 in a row. You love the road.
A: We love playing at home. Hopefully we’ll have our first home final back at the ’G. Up to you, St Kilda, come on.
‘Huge stakes’ are what Demons are about: Brayshaw
Melbourne star Angus Brayshaw spoke to Channel Seven after the game…
Q: Angus has had a big role in the midfield tonight on Lachie Neale. Did you enjoy that
one?
A: He is a great player and they’ve got a great midfield group. It was a good challenge. Tom Sparrow, Jack Viney, we rolled a few players around on him, and it was a good win.
Q: You’ve been in the backline most of the year. Loving being back in the midfield now?
A: It was a surprise going back to the backline in Round 1. My thing has always been just playing my role for the team, and I’m happy wherever that is. At least I’m getting a game, we’re winning, hard to complain.
Q: Back in September. It sounds good.
A: It was a huge game, with huge stakes on the line. A big game, it’s what we’re all about.
