Lions coach Chris Fagan says he\u2019s unsure whether to recall prized off-season recruit Oscar Allen for Brisbane\u2019s battle with Port Adelaide on Sunday as he wrestles with tinkering with a winning combination and the former West Coast star\u2019s lack of football.<\/p>\n
Allen made his return from a long-term foot injury last Friday for Brisbane\u2019s VFL side in a 16-point loss to Sydney at Tramway Oval.<\/p>\n
The tall forward kicked a goal in a solid display; however, Fagan said it was tough to judge whether Allen was ready for a top-flight return due to the match having been played in wet conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, it was torrential rain for most of it, so it was a little hard to tell whether Oscar\u2019s in any form or not,\u201d Fagan said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just one of those days that was not great for forwards, so it\u2019s a tough decision (about whether to promote Allen) this week. I\u2019m not sure which way we\u2019ll go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen could be named in an extended Lions squad on Thursday night, but Fagan has until Friday night to finalise his line-up for the Gabba clash where a Brisbane win would stretch the back-to-back premiers\u2019 unbeaten run to seven games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to change a team that\u2019s winning and to make change for change\u2019s sake,\u201d the Lions coach said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Allen) understands where he\u2019s at. The truth is, he hasn\u2019t played (in the AFL) since (April 26) this year, and he\u2019s missed a lot of football over the previous two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to make sure that when he does get back into the AFL team, whether that\u2019s this weekend or next or whenever, that he\u2019s in the best shape to be as great a contributor to our team effort that he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fagan said he would have no hesitation selecting three tall forwards when Allen was ready for an AFL return.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played with a third tall for a lot of our history over the last few years, so we\u2019re pretty much still playing the same way as we have done in previous years, so it wouldn\u2019t change a thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game always moves and evolves, and sometimes what\u2019s worked in the past won\u2019t work in the here and now \u2026 (but) we recruited him here because we know he\u2019s a very good forward and can help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fagan was confident that veteran defender Dayne Zorko, who experienced \u201chamstring awareness\u201d during Brisbane\u2019s win over West Coast last Saturday, would be fit to face Port.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been looked at medically this week, and as far as I know, he\u2019s right to play,\u201d Fagan said of the former Brisbane captain.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Adelaide<\/a>Brisbane<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lions coach Chris Fagan says he\u2019s unsure whether to recall prized off-season recruit Oscar Allen for Brisbane\u2019s battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[57397,55753,49827,57372,57383,53960,57388,57396,57410,43176,53710,57376,38151,43249,57387,57363,38167,57360,57374,57357,57366,57370,57407,16175,57377,57384,57392,57394,14519,99,3132,57409,57364,3014,57358,9715,57368,57408,51258,47871,57399,57367,57385,57382,1080,36518,57389,57400,3040,57395,57401,29688,524,57369,57373,57405,57371,19816,247,43276,57398,57404,57406,57365,57380,57393,40472,57402,57381,57391,41977,38744,57390,53579,38813,38964,40130,39096,57403,57379,7444,57386,57378,57361,57362,57359,10265,40338,57375],"class_list":["post-56709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-s-battle","tag-s-lack","tag-s-return","tag-s-sake","tag-s-vfl-side","tag-s-win","tag-a-16-point-loss","tag-a-brisbane-win","tag-a-contributor","tag-a-goal","tag-a-little","tag-a-long-term-foot-injury","tag-a-lot","tag-a-selection-headache","tag-a-six-game-winning-streak","tag-a-solid-display","tag-a-team","tag-a-thing","tag-a-third-tall","tag-a-top-flight-return","tag-a-tough-decision","tag-a-very","tag-a-winning-combination","tag-allen","tag-an-afl-return","tag-an-extended-lions-squad","tag-any-form","tag-april-26","tag-back-to-back-premiers","tag-brisbane","tag-change","tag-coach-chris-fagan","tag-fagan","tag-football","tag-forwards","tag-friday","tag-hamstring-awareness","tag-his-line-up","tag-his-return","tag-last-friday","tag-last-saturday","tag-lions-coach-chris-fagan","tag-lions-star","tag-medically-this-week","tag-newswire-sport","tag-night","tag-no-hesitation","tag-oscar","tag-oscar-allen","tag-our-history","tag-our-team-effort","tag-port","tag-port-adelaide","tag-port-adelaide-clash","tag-previous-years","tag-prized-off-season-recruit-oscar-allen","tag-seven-games","tag-sunday","tag-sydney","tag-the-afl","tag-the-afl-team","tag-the-back-to-back-premiers","tag-the-best-shape","tag-the-former-brisbane-captain","tag-the-former-west-coast-star","tag-the-gabba-clash","tag-the-game","tag-the-here","tag-the-last-few-years","tag-the-lions-coach","tag-the-match","tag-the-past","tag-the-previous-two-years","tag-the-same-way","tag-the-truth","tag-this-week","tag-this-weekend","tag-this-year","tag-those-days","tag-three-tall-forwards","tag-thursday","tag-torrential-rain","tag-tough-decision","tag-tramway-oval-the-tall","tag-unbeaten-run","tag-veteran-defender-dayne-zorko","tag-west-coast","tag-wet-conditions","tag-which-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56709","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=56709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}