The Brisbane Lions will be intent on bouncing back from their 2023 Grand Final defeat.
But how do they achieve that in 2024?
Dean Solomon has outlined three wishes the Lions would want as they go about avenging their heartbreaking Grand Final loss to Collingwood.
Solomon was an assistant coach at both Gold Coast and GWS following his playing career with Essendon and Fremantle, meaning he possesses the experience to pass judgment on such matters.
He believes that the first wish he would have is that the Lions’ playing group come back with a strong mentality, something can often be hindered after a Grand Final defeat.
“The first one is the off-season mentality and psyche,” the Bombers premiership player said on SENQ.
“How could they have shaped that before leaving the club – the week after the Grand Final, Chris Fagan and his coaching group, the sports psychologist, they would’ve spent a lot of time with the players before exiting and shaping their off-season.
“Their off-season would’ve been so critical in the sense that you can go one way or another; you can have four weeks of drowning your sorrows and putting on a good amount of weight and really not caring about what it looks like for the next period of time, or you shake yourself off after a two-week period, you get moving again, you start becoming a leader in grabbing fellow teammates and implementing an off-season program.”
Brisbane’s first-to-four year players kicked off their pre-season on Tuesday, with a number of older figures returning early to join them. This was a feat that Solomon believed was indicative of the hunger of the group to make another run at a flag.
“By the sounds of (older players returning early), the psyche of the Brisbane Lions is in a good space if that’s what occurred yesterday,” he said.
“The first wish, particularly from the coaches, is that the playing group’s in a good headspace upon arriving back at the football club. I’d say that’s almost a tick already if that’s what has occurred.”
Solomon’s second wish was the successful injury recovery from both new recruit Tom Doedee and gun youngster Will Ashcroft, who both suffered ACL injuries in 2023.
“They’ve invested in Doedee from the Adelaide Crows, who’s gone through a series of knee injuries and reconstructions,” he said.
“He’s an absolute quality player – half-back, intercept marks, can really kick start some counter attack off that piece of the playing field, which is a really important piece to Brisbane’s attack.
“They’ve invested and gone out and absolutely head-hunted him and brought him in, so he becomes a real asset if he can get his body right and he gets back up and running.
“The other part to this wish is Will Ashcroft and how he returns from his knee (surgery). His first half of the year last year was, as a first-year player, was sensational.
“Yes, we’re putting a bit of pressure on a young kid who’s only in his second year, (but) only because of what he executed and was able to implement in his first half (of) last year.
“If he can come back and find some of that rhythm, obviously physically, but (also) find rhythm with the footy, he becomes a major recruit for that football club as well.
“So there’s two really important pieces, if fully fit, that they add into that side for their 2024 campaign.”
The final wish on Solomon’s list was that all players worked on the fundamentals of their games in the hopes that it could be the difference in a Grand Final situation.
“The third wish is the coaching group hoping that the playing group are open to improving,” he said.
“So even… the best players; Lachie Neale, Joe Daniher, you name the top Lions – if they can open their mind to finding just three per cent each, just three percent better in their two-kilometre time trial, three percent better on their (skills).
“Every little piece of the puzzle that comes together to put a footballer together – skinfolds, 40 metre sprints (etcetera) – if they can find three percent in everything, where does that put them? Does that get them over the line last year in a Grand Final, I don’t know.
“If they can find (that) individually, therefore collectively, it puts them in a better space and gives them every chance to get after another Premiership tilt, or an opportunity at a Grand Final.”
After their four-point defeat to Collingwood in this year’s Grand Final, Brisbane should be well in the hunt to flip their fortune in 2024.
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