Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought we were in a bit of trouble when we were six wins and six losses – if you had of told me we would be 12-6 six weeks later, I might not have believed you at that point in time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have found some form \u2013 but there\u2019s still a long way to go in the season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe good thing is we\u2019ve got ourselves up and going again. The ball is now in our court.\u201d<\/p>\n One of those players fighting to hold his spot is West Aussie James Tunstill, who was an emergency in last year\u2019s grand final win.<\/p>\n Harris Andrews embraces James Tunstill after the win in Perth.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n He came into the side this week after Bruce Reville missed the trip west for personal reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the tough thing with this team \u2013 there\u2019s so much competition for spots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of boys coming back from injury. That\u2019s the tough thing about being in a top four side. But that\u2019s what makes us a good club.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always been like that. I enjoy the challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cYou learn a lot off these guys \u2013 I keep trying to get better every year.\u201d<\/p>\n Recruit Oscar Allen and Lincoln McCarthy both played their first VFL matches this weekend, joining teammate Keidean Coleman in a bid to return to AFL level.<\/p>\n While Fagan said Allen could join the likes of Logan Morris and Eric Hipwood in a three tall attack set up, it was up to players to force their way back into this winning line up.<\/p>\n \u201cOscar played in the twos simply because he hadn\u2019t played football since Round 6 and he hasn\u2019t played much football over the last three years full stop,\u201d the coach shared.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he comes back to this ground to play against his old team, I want him to be in peak fitness and peak shape \u2013 I didn\u2019t think that would be fair to him tonight, even though he desperately wanted to play.<\/p>\n Oscar Allen had a hot start to his Lions career.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n \u201cEric (Hipwood) is not holding Oscar out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe might end up playing with Logan, Oscar and Eric in the same forward line \u2013 and that\u2019s something we\u2019d try to have a look at over the next few weeks to see if that can work for us.<\/p>\n \u201cSee if it makes us better or it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cLinc, through form has just got to force his way back into the team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve won the last six games in a row so it\u2019s pretty hard to change a team that\u2019s doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lions aren\u2019t shying away from the pressure of trying to become just the third team this century to win three straight flags – following on from the Brisbane of 2001-2003 and Hawthorn of 2013-2015.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve given ourselves a chance to finish top four which is where you want to be ideally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of teams in competition for that (top four) spot \u2013 but you\u2019ve got to be in the hunt.<\/p>\n \u201cDestiny is in our own hands.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows the ladder and percentage and all that stuff so why shy away from it?<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve definitely used that as motivation over the last two or three weeks. It\u2019s so tight, we\u2019ve got to stay in the hunt and get that top four spot.<\/p>\n The Lions have now won six straight games.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s OK to use that as motivation \u2013 I think our group is mature enough for me to say that to them. If you had a younger group maybe you wouldn\u2019t? You\u2019d just just keep making it week to week.\u201d<\/p>\n And it was a sentiment Tunstill agreed with.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hitting our stride nicely,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cJust want to keep it going all the way through to September.<\/p>\n \u201cWe realise that it\u2019s a hard thing to do (winning a threepeat), but we\u2019ve embraced that.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get there again would be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lions still have games to come against Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Gold Coast at home along with Carlton and Collingwood in Melbourne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fight for a spot in Brisbane\u2019s best 23 is heating up as the club searches for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-808961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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