How the Lions conquered growing pains to reach AFLW top four

After a shaky begin to the season, the Brisbane Lions confirmed religion in a shift in sport fashion to climb up the ladder and assure themselves a top-four end.

However Brisbane ending within the prime 4 is not any actual shock. 

In any case, the Lions have been a top-four finisher in every season since conferences have been abolished forward of the 2021 marketing campaign.

The Lions have received two premierships, 2021 and 2023, and have featured within the final three grand finals. They’re a perennial contender.

However there have been real considerations all through the season that the Lions have been now not the powerhouse they as soon as have been.

North Melbourne goes properly in AFLW

Whereas some recommend that this yr’s AFLW premiers being all however identified has brought about some to lose curiosity, commentators say North Melbourne’s dominance is inspirational.

On the conclusion of spherical 5 this yr, the Lions sat ninth on the ladder with two wins to their identify.

They have been shaky and unreliable, however making an attempt so as to add one thing new.

So as to beat North Melbourne — who’re clear flag favourites on the again of a 23-match profitable streak — Brisbane recognised they wanted to develop into extra nuanced.

Now not was supreme health and a stacked ahead line going to be sufficient.

These first 5 weeks of the season have been an opportunity to soak up the rising pains of a shift in sport fashion.

The Lions labored by the kinks and, since that round-five loss to North Melbourne, they’ve received six straight matches.

They now have an opportunity to complete as excessive as second ought to they report an enormous win over Collingwood on Sunday.

Lions make fashion adjustments

What the Lions have labored on so as to add this yr is a bit more in-game management — profitable extra of the footy and looking for extra marks across the floor.

It’s much less of a surge fashion — though there may be nonetheless a way of pace on the ball and overlap run — and extra of a possession chain down the sector.

In doing so, they’re getting the ball ahead extra usually and discovering marks near the purpose.

With higher management of the ball in hand, the Lions are additionally aiming to defend the bottom extra successfully. 

This implies much less determined defensive work deep within the again 50, as a substitute selecting to cut off opposition assaults increased up the bottom.

In a season the place the transition from the defensive half to the attacking 50 is at an all-time excessive throughout the AFLW, that top defensive press turns into tougher and more and more useful when carried out properly.

The shaky begin

Within the first 5 rounds of the season, Brisbane landed an enormous win over Fremantle — kicking a triple-digit rating for the primary time in its historical past — and a stirring comeback victory over Adelaide.

It additionally misplaced to fellow finals challengers Hawthorn (4 factors), Carlton (14 factors) and North Melbourne (29 factors).

Blow for Swans AFLW as season over for Molloy

Sydney shall be with out co-captain Chloe Molloy for the remainder of the AFLW season in a serious setback as their finals hopes cling within the stability.

It was an inconsistent begin to a season, one through which the membership was hopeful of avenging its 2024 grand remaining loss to the Kangaroos.

Brisbane was conceding a mean of 45.8 factors per match and permitting the opposition to attain with 50.7 per cent accuracy.

Put merely, the Lions have been permitting opponents to get the ball ahead with ease — averaging 31.6 inside 50s towards per match — after which kick targets at an exceptionally excessive charge, with 21.5 per cent of these entries changed into majors.

The personnel in that again 50 wanted tightening, but it surely was the work of gamers and constructions increased up the sector that required tweaking.

Recovering from errors and switching from an attacking to a defensive mindset needed to occur extra shortly, emphasising a necessity for gamers to shift modes sooner to help in defence.

Their very own scoring was affordable, though the typical rating of 51 factors in that point was considerably boosted by their 105-point haul towards Fremantle in spherical two.

Fixing the defensive layer was then going to assist set up higher consistency in their very own attacking sport.

The six-match streak

The largest shift for Brisbane since its round-five loss has been its capability to win the uncontested possession and preserve management of the footy.

The Lions have averaged 26.3 extra uncontested possessions and 11.5 extra marks throughout the final six weeks. 

The need to methodically transfer the ball has come to fruition.

In doing so, the Lions are conceding 22.1 fewer factors, 34.8 fewer disposals, and 33.8 uncontested possessions, signalling they don’t seem to be simply controlling the ball extra themselves however taking that management away from opposition groups.

With the shift, opponents are discovering it considerably tough to get into real attacking positions, with 4.9 fewer inside 50s per match and a drop in scoring effectivity of 6.8 per cent.

It’s more durable to enter 50 towards the Lions and more durable nonetheless to show these entries into scores.

On the different finish of the bottom, the Lions are getting the ball inside 50 extra reliably themselves (up 3.7) and producing scores at a a lot increased charge (up 14.3 per cent).

The one drop-off for the Lions on this time is their conversion, which has fallen by 15.3 per cent.

They’re creating extra alternatives to attain and dwelling in assault for longer intervals of time. They’ve simply misplaced that killer intuition in entrance of purpose.

Notably, between rounds one and 5, 12 completely different Lions gamers kicked targets. That quantity stays the identical within the spherical six to 11 interval, however with increased particular person tallies and a barely completely different combine.

Spearhead Taylor Smith has consolidated her type within the attacking zone, and Irish recruit Neasa Dooley has discovered her ft since debuting in spherical two.

In the meantime, the candy patch of type loved by two-time All Australian Sophie Conway has been a big issue within the Lions’ type shift.

Conway’s run from the wing, getting again to assist defence, after which sliding ahead to get harmful, has been an indicator of the Lions’ fashion lately.

She was struggling to recapture that type early within the season, being utilized in other ways as a part of the membership’s evolution.

However now that these rising pains have been labored by, she is again to her damaging finest.

There is no such thing as a singularity that has brought about the Lions’ shift in fortunes over the past six weeks, as a substitute, it has been a smoothing-out course of in numerous elements of their sport.

However it’s occurred at precisely the correct time.

And now with a double probability for finals, and the AFLW world crying out for a challenger to the seemingly unassailable Kangaroos, may Brisbane be simply that group?