Brisbane coach Chris Fagan lavished praise on Josh Dunkley after the Lions midfielder’s superb job in shutting down Gold Coast dangerman Matt Rowell in Saturday night’s one-sided QClash semi-final at the Gabba.
The Lions kept alive their bid for back-to-back AFL premierships with a 53-point win over the Suns that earnt them a preliminary final date with Collingwood at the MCG next weekend.
After a tight first-quarter, the Lions took control of the contest, with Dunkley’s effort to nullify Rowell a key part of Brisbane’s win.
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Dunkley discusses record breaking night | 04:01
Dunkley, who finished the match with an AFL finals record of 18 tackles, was desperate to redeem himself after allowing Rowell to get the better of him by dominating clearances when the Suns beat Brisbane by 66 points in July.
“It was really important tonight that we would win clearance and not let Rowell dominate us like he did last time, and I thought Josh Dunkley did a super job on him,” Fagan said.
“That tackle count of 18, that’s phenomenal. That’s Josh for you. One of the great blokes to coach, he is.
“He wanted Rowell from early in the week, and he got that job done because he felt like he didn’t get it done last time.
“He just wasn’t happy about that, so he wanted to fix it. When Josh decides he wants to do things, I don’t hesitate to let him do it.”
Fagan was also delighted with Brisbane’s overall response to the previous week’s 38-point qualifying loss to Geelong.
“They keep responding, this group. They’re terrific in that way,” he said.
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“We’re all a bit disappointed with what happened last week. Geelong played super well, but we felt like we could do better than what we did last week.
“In a funny sort of way, that game last week prepared us for tonight, because I thought our pressure and intensity was really up.
“We almost did to the Gold Coast what Geelong did to us last week, so they’re good learners, our group.”
The Lions now have the chance to reach a third successive grand final.
“I’m definitely proud of the group. It’s hard to make finals after you win a premiership, let alone get back to a preliminary final,” Fagan said.
“We’ve got a lot of young players playing at the moment. There were three 19-year-olds out there tonight. Not too many teams this deep into finals have got that sort of profile, but that bodes well for our future.
“They’ll all be looking forward to next week, and we’ll see how we go.”
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