Lion king reigns at Gabba - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Lion king reigns at Gabba

By Laine Clark 03/05/2009 05:10:35 PM Comments (0)

Usually Jonathan Brown gets what he wants - and at 195cm and 102kg who is going to argue with him.

So when the Brisbane Lions skipper all but ordered his team to redeem themselves after a 93-point thumping at Geelong, it was no real surprise that they duly delivered against Essendon on Saturday night.

Not that the giant forward was satisfied by the 43-point hiding of the Bombers at the Gabba - inspired by five goals from the big man himself.

Now Brown wants the Lions to rebuild their credibility by winning away - starting with the hot and cold Richmond Tigers at the MCG on Saturday night.

"We need to win away from home and start elevating ourselves," he said.

While heartened by the Lions' first win over the Bombers since round two 2006, Brown believes they will only really stamp themselves as finals contenders if they start winning outside of Queensland.

The Lions' last away win was against Carlton - way back in round eight last year.

But Brown has a way of getting the best out of his troops.

The Lions captain voiced his displeasure at his side's work ethic at training in the fallout over the loss at Geelong.

Surprise, surprise the chastened Lions started knuckling down on the training paddock in preparation for Essendon.

"The guys trained really well on Thursday all the way through the session - I thought that was a really good sign," Brown said.

"I just don't think (our training consistency) has been there the whole season and that's carried over into games, that patchiness."

Brown led the way against the Bombers, grabbing 24 disposals and 13 marks while kicking 5.0 from all parts of the ground.

"He's looked like he was going to have a game like that for a while," Lions coach Michael Voss said.

"He's been threatening to have that sort of game and his finishing was just exceptional."

Brown added: "The body's pretty healthy so I'm able to play my natural role which I enjoy and it's good for the side.

"Braddy (Daniel Bradshaw, four goals) is able to play a little bit closer and just move around as we please."

Voss was encouraged by the way his side responded to the Geelong debacle.

"We ran out the game pretty well I thought and we had constant pressure at the contest," he said.

"We just needed a bit more honest effort from more players and we were able to get that."

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