Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown has “serious doubts” whether Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood can be the key forward pairing to lead Brisbane to a premiership.
And as Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall lamented the Daniher goalkicking “lottery”, dual All-Australian Kane Cornes called out the Lions for handing Hipwood a “ridiculous” contract extension.
Daniher and Hipwood have kicked seven goals and taken just three contested marks between them across the first three rounds of the season.
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Both key forwards attracted ample scrutiny in the aftermath of Brisbane’s loss to the Western Bulldogs last week, in which Daniher kicked 0.4 and Hipwood 1.1 from six disposals.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch, Brown said the Lions were missing Dan McStay, who left the club as a free agent in October and signed with Collingwood.
Brown said Hipwood and Daniher’s inconsistency was frustrating, calling for No. 1 ruck Oscar McInerney to spend more time closer to goal to help the Lions compete better in the air.
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“Any key forward needs to be reliable and predictable to his teammates – and I’m not seeing reliable and predictable teammates in Hipwood and Daniher at the moment,” Brown told On The Couch. “That’s a problem for the Brisbane Lions and they need to sort it out.
“I think they need to play two ruckmen and you like to see McInerney being the main guy to play more forward, or play enough time forward, because he’s the guy with a bit of mongrel there and good down the line.”
Asked if Hipwood and Daniher were a premiership duo for the Lions, Brown said: “No they’re not. Clearly they’re not
“I’ve got serious doubts (whether they can be reprogrammed). You need to support them with McInerney, who’s the guy who can take the mark and make the contest down the line. I think (Darcy) Fort’s a capable ruckman.”
Ex-Bomber Daniher was recruited to the Lions ahead of the 2021 season after a wretched run with injury. He kicked 46 goals in his first season at Brisbane then 39 last year, but has had his issues with goalkicking accuracy over his career.
Triple Coleman Medallist Dunstall was particularly critical of Daniher during Fox Footy’s coverage of the Bulldogs-Lions game on Thursday night, claiming Daniher had “lost his confidence” kicking at goal.
Dunstall on Monday night doubled down on his dissatisfaction around Daniher’s accuracy issues.
“You have no idea how frustrated I am – and it‘s not just with Joe, but he’s the one that’s there and we’re talking about at the moment,” Dunstall told Fox Footy’s AFL 360. “We did the game Thursday night and I found it incredibly difficult to watch.
“There‘s a couple of things to understand here. He’s been, for whatever reason, an easy target over the journey, because he consistently does this.
“Now you talk to clubs and they sit there and they say ‘we‘re working on it, we’re training, we’re doing all sorts of things’ – but nothing ever looks different though. So I want to know what they’re working on, whether it’s the decision-making, whether it’s the technique, the routine. I would just like to see something different so I can actually say” ‘OK they’re progressing in that area, that’s the path they’re going down and you might see merit.’
“But it just seems that it‘s the same lottery every time. ‘What’s he going to do tonight? Is he going to kick a couple of nice ones or are they going to go everywhere?’
“And the problem is then that erodes the confidence and momentum of your teammates, particularly against the good teams when you need everything to go right to compete with them. You miss opportunities and you‘re out of the game.”
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd said Daniher was “technically flawed” with his goalkicking technique, adding there was little the Lions’ coaching staff could do to correct his waywardness.
But Lloyd told Channel 9’s Footy Classified the Lions could help fix Daniher’s on-field attitude.
“With his effort and second efforts or lack thereof, I wonder how hard Chris has been on him … I wonder if they’ve gone the opposite way and said to Joe: ‘You don‘t mean to miss goals, keep working at it and we’ll try and get someone in to help you. But the attitude to stop, not chase, when you’ve been around for 10 years’ – I wonder how hard they’ve been on him in that situation,” Lloyd told Footy Classified.
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“I see the killer instinct in Jeremy Cameron to run down, chase players – the premiership type players that get to the dais and win premierships as key forwards. He‘s not looking like one at the moment after all this time with what he’s like when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands.”
Lloyd’s co-host Cornes then pointed to vision from Brisbane’s Round 2 win over Melbourne where Daniher demanded the ball from Hipwood and was visibly frustrated when it didn’t go in his direction. He then showed the moment Daniher burned teammate Charlie Cameron during Thursday night’s loss to the Bulldogs and kicked a behind when Cameron was free running towards goal.
Caroline Wilson labelled it “appalling” footage, while Cornes said Daniher “would be a frustrating teammate to play with”.
Cornes then turned his attention to Hipwood, who’s kicked at least 24 goals in each of his previous six seasons – but nothing more than 37 majors, which came in 2018.
The Lions in December stunned the AFL world when it announced Hipwood, 25, had added an extra six years to his deal, tying him to the club until at least the end of the 2029 season. It was the biggest contract offered by the Lions in almost three decades, after Alastair Lynch signed for a whopping 10 years back in 1994.
But after three rounds, Hipwood has kicked two goals and averaged just 5.7 disposals.
“Heads need to roll over these deals and I‘ve said it for so long that they’re going to burn so many clubs – and they’re starting to burn so many clubs,” Cornes told Channel 9.
“He‘s got more years on his contract than he’s averaging disposals in 2023. When do the people that hand out these seven-year deals – that we all knew was ridiculous at the time – are made to pay the price for ridiculous contracts like that?”
Eight-time All-Australian Nathan Buckley said Daniher and Hipwood didn’t appear to have the body composition to be dominant key forwards.
“I look at these edits and in these two players, they look like they could be first or second-year, gangly full-forwards who are coming out of TAC (Cup) who can’t be expected to give any more than cameos here and there,” Buckley told On The Couch.
“If you look at the body shapes, they’re not going to be able to change body shapes in a week or two or three or four – and they might not have the right body type – but you need to be a big, solid unit consistently providing aerial contests down the line. That is not an easy job to do in the modern game because you’re not going to take contested marks left right and centre.
“Aaron Naughton throws himself at the contest. He’s a consistent target for the Western Bulldogs – that’s what Daniher and Hipwood need to share the role of.”
