Lions play down ‘little bit of carry on’ over schedule change

BRISBANE’S change of schedule following ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred will have no adverse effect on its performance against Sydney on Saturday, says co-captain Harris Andrews.

Andrews described any external discussion about a disruption of preparation as “a little bit of carry on”.

The Lions’ Opening Round match against Geelong was postponed from last Thursday to round three as the cyclone moved towards south-east Queensland, preventing the premiers from training for four days.

They will fly to Sydney on Wednesday – two days earlier than originally planned – to ensure the main training session can be completed on a good surface.

Ahead of a light run at the Gabba on Tuesday morning, Andrews said the preparation was no different to that if they had faced the Cats.

“We played an intraclub on Wednesday, a day earlier, and we wouldn’t be back into the club until Sunday or Monday anyway,” he said.

“There’s probably been a little bit of carry on about it being a disruption of preparation for this week. It’s one day, and I don’t think it’s going to break us.

“It’s certainly not unprecedented. We went through the COVID period as well as everyone, and there was a lot of uncertainty there.”

Andrews said most players escaped the harshest wrath of the natural disaster, with a few losing power as serious as it got.

“It’s a great idea for us to head down a couple of days early and guarantee we can get a good session out on Thursday,” he said.

“It’s always nice to get away with this group of boys and experience Sydney for a couple of days.”

Andrews said Brisbane expected a stiff challenge from the team it beat by 60 points in last year’s Grand Final.

“I think they weren’t happy with their performance on Grand Final day. They’re such a great team, they had an awesome year last year, and I’ve got no doubt they’ll come out hard and ready to go,” he said.

“The fact we’ve got an extra week is great, it’s only going to make us a little bit more ready to go.”