MATCH PREVIEW: Gold Coast v Brisbane

NEAFL ROUND 4

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Gold Coast Suns (7th) vs Brisbane Lions (1st)

Metricon Stadium, 10.00am

SUMMARY

The much-anticipated QClash has arrived with both the Lions and SUNS AFL and NEAFL sides hitting it out at Metricon Stadium this Saturday. The Lions are playing some brilliant football, accounting for Aspley last weekend to sit atop the NEAFL ladder with a healthy list.

It’s a different story for the SUNS, who lost on the road to the GIANTS on Easter Saturday. Gold Coast was outplayed for the most part, with a five goal to two final quarter helping aid the scoreline.

Although the two sides have had different starts to 2019, expect a competitive battle as the SUNS look to score bragging rights on their home deck

RECENT ENCOUNTERS

Round 20, 2018: Brisbane 17.15 (117) d Gold Coast 2.8 (26) at Metricon Stadium.

Round 17, 2018: Brisbane 11.16 (82) d Gold Coast 10.1 (70) at Metricon Stadium.

Round 6, 2018: Brisbane 12.24 (96) d Gold Coast 0.4 (4) at Moreton Bay Sports Complex.

TALKING POINTS

1. Coming in to Round 4 and you could not talk about two more opposite teams at the moment. The Lions are flying at 3-0 on top of the ladder, whilst the SUNS sit at 0-3 with a lot of questions to ask for coach Nick Malceski. They were quite evenly matched against the GIANTS last week, but were on the back foot early with a six-goal-to-one opening term, and couldn’t claw back the deficit. A consistent four quarters of footy is what Malceski will be wanting from his troops this week.

2. How good are the Lions? Brisbane is conquering everything in its sight at the moment registering 65,95 & 48 point victories with a healthy percentage of 255 per cent to sit atop the NEAFL after three rounds. The Lions lead the competition in inside 50s, contested possessions and contested marks through three rounds. They are playing a hard-nose, attacking brand of football and are looking red hot as a result.

3. The SUNS, on the other hand, are not so bright starters. Gold Coast’s first quarter performances have been dismal to start the season – trailing by 26, 17 and 29 at the end of each first quarter in each of their first three matches. The key to a revival for the SUNS looks to be starting matches better and not having to play catch up from word go.

ROOKIE WATCH

Fitzroy Greenwool was impressive for the SUNS in a losing outfit last week, finding 15 possessions, a goal as well as four tackles. Josh Corbett was again one of the best for Gold Coast in his second NEAFL game, registering 19 possessions, a goal and a game-high 10 marks. Both were a real threat around the forward 50 last week.

STATS THAT MATTER

Gold Coast and Brisbane sit atop the clearance and hard ball gets numbers after three rounds. So, despite the contrasting results the midfield battle this weekend should be elite as both team’s midfields battle it out off the back of two dominant ruckmen in Archie Smith and Tom Nicholls.

PREDICTION

Brisbane will continue its red-hot start to the year. The Lions by 30.