There'll be no love lost between the GoldCoast SUNS reserves and the Brisbane Lions seconds this afternoon, with thereigning NEAFL premiers likely to come out firing after crumbling to a 47-pointloss to the Gold Coasters in Round 11 at Giffin Park in their last encounter.
“No doubt (the loss hurt),” Brisbane Reservescoach Leigh Harding told lions.com.au.
“The boys are ready to make amends for that(loss). Hopefully we bring our best effort.”
The Northern Conference premiershipfavourites have lost just one match of their 12 matches in 2013 against theGCSUNS with Shaun Hart’s NEAFL chargers thumping the Lions after a NathanBock-inspired second-half of football saw the SUNS run out convincing winners.
But with a large pool of senior-listed playerbolstered across the Lions seconds outfit, Hart is aware his boys will need tocome out with finals-like intensity against the top-of-the-ladder heavyweights.
“Brisbane are really strong at the moment andare playing with really good cohesion,” Hart said to goldcoastfc.com.au
“I’ll be a game where every stoppage is goingto count and our ability to get our hands on the footy is going to be enormous.
“Locking the ball in our forward-half of theground will be crucial too.”
Hart said it was the Lion’s mix of tall andsmall targets inside-50 that made them such a potent high-scoring opponent.
“They’re a powerhouse all over the ground butalso in their forwardline they have guys like Cornelius, Isles, Banfield andMichael Close who can all pinch up forward and provide strong leads,” he said.
But after leaving Coorparoo with thePremiership Points in their last encounter five weeks ago, Hart says he knowshis boys have what it takes to win over the chocolates against their QCLASHrivals.
“We have to make sure we match up againstthem and play strong, tough defence,” Hart said.
“If we can do that it’ll go a long waytowards us being very competitive and will gives us a fighting chance towardswinning the game.”
