he\u2019s still saying he\u2019s going to back them<\/a> \u2013 and rightly so. This group have done so much for him and so much that he probably is right to give them that chance and they deserve it.<\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s not going to drop the players \u2026 I don\u2019t think they have enough depth at the moment with their injury list to drop too many players. I don\u2019t think it would be fair to make one statement and pick out one player, because there\u2019s so many of them at the moment that are struggling.<\/p>\n
Brisbane Lions senior coach Chris Fagan. Picture: Albert Perez\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what he does have to do is find a way to stimulate this group and sharpen them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the other way he can do it is to move the magnets. It\u2019s time to change it up, particularly in the midfield. They are getting smacked at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have all the talent in there \u2013 talent is not an issue with the Brisbane Lions. It\u2019s their application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montagna said the Lions were \u201cgetting exposed at stoppage\u201d \u2013 and their top-line premiership stars should cop the blame.<\/p>\n
The Saints champion showed vision of poor defensive efforts from Lachie Neale, Josh Dunkley, Hugh McCluggage and Will Ashcroft from the Dockers loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cLachie Neale has had a wonderful year; nothing wrong with his year offensively. But we\u2019ve seen this a little too often in the last month or so \u2013 players going at him and then working off him and hitting the scoreboard,\u201d Montagna said as vision showed Docker Matt Johnson kicking a goal on Neale.<\/p>\n
Shai Bolton sprinted away from Josh Dunkley.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh Dunkley \u2013 we love him. Everyone admires Josh Dunkley and what he has done, but this season has been poor by his standards. His pressure rating is as low as it\u2019s been in five years. The quick transition game, the speed of the players playing in the midfield \u2026 unfortunately at the moment Josh Dunkley can\u2019t keep up with them. He\u2019s getting found out in that phase of the game because he\u2019s better off in the shoebox and in a contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcCluggage, he can\u2019t get near it offensively. These little lapses (where he lets Michael Frederick get out the back), just one second \u2013 this is modern footy \u2026 And people want to talk about the defenders here, saying the defenders got beaten. Well, when you\u2019re getting that sort of supply it makes it hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Will Ashcroft \u2013 you could have shown a lot of this sort of thing, to allow (Neil) Erasmus to stroll through and then he hardly leaves the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Ashcroft was left behind.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Montagna said it was \u201ctime to move the magnets\u201d at Brisbane, urging Fagan to unleash star defender Darcy Wilmot on the ball and hand Zac Bailey more midfield minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilmot, because he plays with the intensity and energy at the moment that not many others are \u2013 he\u2019s a two-way runner and he deserves a chance,\u201d Montagna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think Zac Bailey, behind Lachie Neale, is their next best midfielder, with the fast feet, the modern game and he\u2019s still only getting 35 per cent game time in the midfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d move McCluggage to half-back and let him get some ball. He needs to play the (Dayne) Zorko role now without Keidean Coleman. Dunkley can play more time forward of the ball \u2013 he\u2019s a good mark, he can apply pressure in the forward half where they are struggling. And I\u2019d give Will Ashcroft a role. I\u2019d say to him: \u2018Let\u2019s get back to some good habits. This week in the Q-Clash you go play on Noah Anderson and go head-to-head with him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Zorko out for longer than expected | 01:18<\/p>\n
Montagna said Brisbane\u2019s apparent unwillingness to get physical and lack of appetite for the contest was alarming.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo not do it after having the pow-wow \u2026 They sat down and had that chat: \u2018What do we stand for? Let\u2019s get back to habits\u2019 \u2013 and they didn\u2019t? It\u2019s a concern,\u201d Montagna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething has to give. They have to change it up somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna has challenged Brisbane coach Chris Fagan to find a fresh way to \u201cstimulate\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3041,6637,99,408,1074,20973,16760,20964,17681,20967,2209,368,6235,19624,20965,399,20963,20972,20962,7367,20968,6843,20969,20970,19644,20971,1079,20966,19911],"class_list":["post-22043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-albert-perez","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-chris-fagan","tag-damning-vision","tag-darcy-wilmot","tag-defensive-attitude","tag-defensive-efforts","tag-fresh-way","tag-game-time","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hugh-mccluggage","tag-josh-dunkley","tag-key-moves","tag-lachie-neale","tag-lions-senior","tag-matt-johnson","tag-michael-frederick","tag-midfield-minutes","tag-midfield-mix","tag-noah-anderson","tag-premiership-defence","tag-pressure-rating","tag-quad-strain","tag-stars-sums","tag-the-gabba","tag-top-line-premiership-stars","tag-transition-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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