Brisbane have welcomed back a trio of premiership guns for its Round 3 clash with St Kilda, as they search for their first win of the season on Super Saturday Live.
The Saints (1-2, 92.3%) got their first win on the board last week over GWS, helping relieve pressure on head coach Ross Lyon and his recruiting team after a busy off-season at the trade table.
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Coming off their bye, the travelling Lions (0-2, 77.2%) welcome back Darcy Gardiner and Zac Bailey from suspension, as well as Logan Morris who was briefly sidelined with a hand injury. The young duo of Zane Zakostelsky and James Tunstill were omitted, while Dan Annable was the only forced change after succumbing to a serious shoulder injury.
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Dougal Howard and Dan Butler come in for Anthony Caminiti (hamstring) and Hugh Boxshall (omitted), as the hosts tries to avoid falling to 1-3 for the first time since 2018.
Brisbane has the wood over St Kilda across recent history, having won nine of their last 10 meetings, including seven in a row. The Lions have also made Marvel Stadium a happy hunting ground with 12 victories from their last 14 games at the venue.
‘BEEN ABSOLUTELY KING’: DUEL’S UGLY START SEES SCORING SHORTAGE
It was hardly the easiest of watches in the first quarter on Saturday afternoon, with a whopping 13 shots on goal between the two sides before either team could kick truly for goal.
Hilariously, once the first goal did finally come from Saints recruit Liam Ryan, it was by accident!
The former Eagle attempted to hit fellow small forward Jack Higgins out on his own inside forward 50, but missed the kick by a fair margin to go over his head before luckily rolling into an open goal.
It perfectly summed up the first quarter and rest of the match, with the opening half particularly unpleasant from a turnover sense.
“We expected a fiery clash, and also expected a clash that might’ve had a better skillset than what we’ve seen so far from both sides as well,” three-time premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt said at half time.
“Turnover’s been absolutely king, and they’ve been turnovers you’d think you should score from. But unfortunately, one turnover’s turning into two.
“Both sides are rushing at the moment. You can see from the Lions, they certainly want to take that short, uncontested mark and build it up through foot, but St Kilda have been able to pick it up.
“Unfortunately for the Saints, they’ve turned the ball back over straight away again.”
HERITAGE GUERNSEY SPARKS CONFUSION
In an unfortunate collision, Brisbane’s unveiling of their iconic maroon guernsey with white FFC monogram on Saturday afternoon ended up being a genuine point of confusion for players, commentators and fans.
The Lions sported the Fitzroy-inspired guernsey to commemorate 30 years since their merger with Brisbane, but it came with an unfortunate side narrative that made it quite hard to distinguish between the two teams.
“Just speaking to a Brisbane official after half time, the players are a little confused at times with the jumper clash — especially with the back of the Saints (guernsey),” Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon told Fox Footy before the start of the third quarter.
“They’ve had to second-guess a couple of times.”
Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Jordan Lewis added: “I agree Dicko, it’s been a little bit confusing up here in the commentary box.”