Lions coach Chris Fagan has leapt to the defence of key Brisbane forward Joe Daniher, asking critics to “reserve judgment” on the former Essendon star rather than “pick on” him.
Daniher has been in the firing line ahead of the Lions’ Gabba showdown with Collingwood on Thursday night following his poor display in Brisbane’s 14-point loss to the Western Bulldogs last week.
While Fagan was among those disappointed with Daniher’s effort, which included four behinds and no goals, he called for greater balance when commenting on the performances of the 2017 All-Australian.
Watch every match of every round of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
“The week before he kicks four goals (against Melbourne) and nobody’s talking about him then,” the Lions coach said.
“Then last week he kicks zero goals (and) four (behinds) and suddenly it’s ‘let’s pick on Joey Daniher week’.
“He’s not the only one up here. We need all of our other tall forwards to be playing a little bit better; our forward line in general wasn’t at its best last week.
“Just reserve judgment. We tend to jump on his back pretty quickly; we’re much slower patting him on the back when he plays well.”
Fagan said he had addressed Daniher and fellow forward Eric Hipwood about their failure to compete against the Bulldogs.
“We’ve talked about that with our preparation for the game this week.” he said.
Fagan suggested defender Daniel Rich was an unlikely starter; the Lions are set to err on the side of caution with the veteran by giving him another week to recover from the quad strain which ruled him out of the clash with the Bulldogs.
“He’d be in some doubt,” Fagan said.
“With an older guy, you’re not sure. He’s probably right to play, but do you do the sensible thing and wait for another week? That’s possibly the way that we’ll go,” Fagan said.
Despite Brisbane’s indifferent form to start the season, Fagan said a match against the unbeaten and “scintillating” Magpies had come at a “good time”.
“Their ability to turn up in numbers for contests, that’s been the greatest strength this year,” he said of the team coached by Lions triple premiership-winning player Craig McRae.
“They just outnumber the opposition and then win the ball away, and they keep it in motion and supply their forwards pretty well; they all seem to be on the one page with that.
“We are looking forward to it. They’re in scintillating form. They’re flying high at the moment, so it’s a good challenge for us at a good time.”
