Star forwards Eric Hipwood and Joe Daniher are being floated as surprise options to play down back as Brisbane deal with their defensive injury crisis.
The loss of key defenders Harris Andrews (concussion) and Darragh Joyce (jaw) last week, on top of the continued absence of Jack Payne (foot), means Brisbane will enter Saturday’s QClash in desperate need of defensive reinforcements.
The situation is so dire Lions coach Chris Fagan isn’t ruling out switching either Hipwood or Daniher into defence for a one-off cameo.
Hipwood isn’t totally unfamiliar to the role, having been named as a defender in the U18 All-Australian team in 2015.
Daniher, who has kicked 374 career goals, also has some limited experience in defence.
When asked if he is considering playing Hipwood in defence, Fagan replied: “I’m considering all tall players that could potentially play tall back down there.
“I mean, Joe Daniher has played tall back before.
“We could bring a tall forward in from the reserves and move some of those guys back there, or both of those guys back there.
“We’ll just make a couple of simple decisions about two blokes who are going to play down there this week.
“There’s a fair chance at least one of those players wouldn’t have had much experience playing in the backline.”
Gold Coast will boast plenty of height in attack, led by 202cm star Ben King and his support acts Jed Walter (195cm) and Jack Lukosius (195cm).
Fagan played a subtle mind game on Thursday when he suggested Brisbane could try to turn their lack of height in defence into an advantage.
“They (Gold Coast) will probably pick the ‘Land of the Giants’ this week up in their forward line,” Fagan said.
“The view is probably that if Gold Coast can dominate territory, then they’ll cause us all sorts of problems because of their height advantage.
“The ball doesn’t spend all the time in the air, does it?
“If we can get the ball to ground and work it out from there, it might turn into some sort of advantage for us.”
Brisbane have won seven games on the trot to surge into third spot.
They have also won 10 of the past 11 QClashes.
But Brisbane’s shock 41-point loss to the Suns in round 20 last year was a stark reminder the Lions can’t afford to be complacent.
“I felt like our guys in a way took for granted they were just going to go down to the stadium there and beat the Suns, and we weren’t on our game,” Fagan said.
“That’s the lesson we have to learn from that, because if we’re not on our game this week they’ll beat us, there’s nothing surer than that.”
