TonyK
CibbuanoWe are not chokers: Matthews
August 4th 2008 06:15
BRISBANE does not deserve to be labelled as 'chokers' according to coach Leigh Matthews.
For the third time in just five matches, the Lions were beaten on Saturday night after leading late in the final quarter and since Matthews became coach in 1999, Brisbane has been involved in 29 matches that have been decided by eight points or less and have won just four of them.
However Matthews said on Monday it was unfair to label his team as "chokers".
"That is going too far, it's just going too far," Matthews said.
But Matthews admitted that he understood why his side was given the label.
"The definition of that (choking) is when you are a winning position and you don't win so for a couple of weeks we have given people ammunition to make those comments."
Travis Johnstone had a chance to bury the the Kangaroos in the dying minutes but he made a critical error.
Running towards goal, Johnstone elected not to handball off to an unmarked Bradshaw in the goal square, and instead sprayed his shot wide.
North Melbourne rebounded and Lachlan Hansen slotted home a goal less than a minute later to give his side the lead, which they never relinquished
But Matthews said it was unfair to blame the former Demon for eight-point loss.
"We kicked 3.11 in the second half and if we had kicked 6.5 then we win the game and that is the biggest reason why the Roos (who kicked 7.5 after half-time) won and we didn't."
"The last two weeks we have kicked inaccurately and conversion accuracy is one of football's great skills - getting the ball in the first place is difficult but converting is the cream on the cake and winning and losing comes from that."
For the third time in just five matches, the Lions were beaten on Saturday night after leading late in the final quarter and since Matthews became coach in 1999, Brisbane has been involved in 29 matches that have been decided by eight points or less and have won just four of them.
However Matthews said on Monday it was unfair to label his team as "chokers".
"That is going too far, it's just going too far," Matthews said.
But Matthews admitted that he understood why his side was given the label.
"The definition of that (choking) is when you are a winning position and you don't win so for a couple of weeks we have given people ammunition to make those comments."
Travis Johnstone had a chance to bury the the Kangaroos in the dying minutes but he made a critical error.
Running towards goal, Johnstone elected not to handball off to an unmarked Bradshaw in the goal square, and instead sprayed his shot wide.
North Melbourne rebounded and Lachlan Hansen slotted home a goal less than a minute later to give his side the lead, which they never relinquished
But Matthews said it was unfair to blame the former Demon for eight-point loss.
"We kicked 3.11 in the second half and if we had kicked 6.5 then we win the game and that is the biggest reason why the Roos (who kicked 7.5 after half-time) won and we didn't."
"The last two weeks we have kicked inaccurately and conversion accuracy is one of football's great skills - getting the ball in the first place is difficult but converting is the cream on the cake and winning and losing comes from that."
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