Brisbane must make a brutal call and consider dropping veteran star Daniel Rich as his lack of speed becomes a serious issue rivals can exploit, according to Fox Footy analyst David King.
For several weeks the half-back has been caught out in key moments with younger opponents outpacing him and leaving him out of position, costing the Lions in losses to Adelaide and Hawthorn.
North Melbourne dual premiership player King pointed to Geelong’s handling of the Max Holmes injury situation before last year’s Grand Final, and Melbourne’s tricky call on champion Nathan Jones in 2021, as examples of how ruthless teams need to be.
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“We’re talking about setting your team up for a preliminary final game, where goals are at a premium. And you just can’t have warts in your make-up. If you do, you’re gonna have to make some tough calls,” King said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“It’s happened in the past and it’ll happen again. (Max) Holmes was fit last year, Chris Scott didn’t take the chance. Nathan Jones the year before, one of the greats of the Melbourne footy club, nope, we just can’t get you in.
“You’re just not good enough at the moment to be in our 22. I think the Brisbane Lions have the same call to make and it’s about one of their stalwarts who’s been absolutely terrific – and it’s Daniel Rich.
“He’s played 275-odd games of footy, he’s 33 years of age, but he’s now getting taken advantage of because of his lack of speed. And teams are setting up knowing exactly what luxuries it provides.”
King went through several examples where Rich’s lack of speed was either exploited in transition, or leaving him out of position which hurt him and the team defence as a whole.
On each of those occasions he ended up costing the Lions “easy goals”.
“I see him on the weekend choosing angles that a slow man takes. So you give up separation (on Connor Macdonald) – if he’s quick, he’s going with him, and they’re pretty well represented behind the ball,” King explained.
“But because he can’t go with him, he then shuffles the rest of the deck chairs. ‘You go to him, I’m gonna hold here.’ So not only does it cost that personal match-up of Rich vs Macdonald, it’s confusing those around him, and in the end you’ve got Berry here trying to cover the whole army on the wing. So it’s eating into the rest of the back six.
“So then he decides, I’m gonna hold (in defence). I’m not gonna go up the field with him, I’m gonna hold in behind. He’s no aerial support and then at ground level he’s short of the mark.
“Now you can live with this if you want, because the balance sheet of what he does offensively, you think OK, it may outweigh some of this stuff.
“But even when he’s there, when he’s right on his man, he’s done within three steps. He’s right there (on Macdonald), you can’t get any closer than that – bang, bang, bang, gone (mark inside 50).
“Offensively he’s been involved in 18 scores in seven weeks; he’s four intercepts a week. If you (looking at Gerard Whateley) stand out there you could get two. That’s just not paying the bills. 75 per cent of his footy is uncontested.”
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Now the decision is up to Brisbane coach Chris Fagan, because these issues could prove extremely costly for the premiership hopefuls in September.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean Rich simply has to be dropped straight away.
“Speed cures everything, and a lack of speed causes problems everywhere. You can’t correct; I’m tracking forward to a big game, where a coach says, put him in this position as often as you can. And it may only work three times for the game, but it’ll be three goals,” King said.
“They can’t afford to carry this type of player, this type of issue, into a big game. They’ve got to make a call – I’m not saying it’s tomorrow, and maybe the first call’s to the player and say hey, this is on the table for everyone to see and you’ve got a problem you’ve got to sort out.
“You might give him a month to sort it out, and if he can’t, then you know what, he’s not the first to fall to the deck in this situation.
“But don’t make any mistakes – Chris Scott, Simon Goodwin, Craig McRae, they’re all seeing this … so I think we’re going to see just how ruthless Chris Fagan is in the chase for the premiership in 2023.”