Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Returning Lions star Keidean Coleman is poised two take two years of frustration out on the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba on Saturday night.
Injuries, including a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, have restricted Coleman to just two AFL appearances in the past two seasons.
It meant he missed out on Brisbane’s back-to-back grand final wins, which was perhaps even harder to take for the 25-year-old half-back after playing in the Lions team that lost the 2023 decider.
Intent on forcing his way back into the Lions’ star-studded outfit, Coleman returned for pre-season training the “fittest he’s ever been”, according to Brisbane coach Chris Fagan.
“It’s best I’ve ever seen him,” Fagan said on Friday.
“He came back last year (for one AFL game), but the knee was still problematic to him.
“In the end, he got some other injuries which wiped him out of the team, but he’s ready to go.
“He’s played in all our practice games. He couldn’t be any better condition than what he is at the moment, so I look forward to hopefully him having a good year.”
Coleman spent some time in the forward line during Brisbane’s pre-season campaign, but Fagan said he would “most likely” play as a defender in Saturday’s Opening Round battle.
“The pre-season was a little bit about finding out who could do what. You want that flexibility in games, to move blokes from forward to back, if you can get it,” the Lions coach said.
“It’s just all good information if you ever need to use it during a game.”
Brisbane’s forward line against the Bulldogs will definitely include off-season recruit Oscar Allen, after the former West Coast Eagles co-captain overcame a bout of concussion that forced him to miss the Lions’ trial win over Gold Coast last week.
“You’d prefer that he would have played last week, but nothing in football is ever ideal,” Fagan said.“The concussion that he had, he recovered very quickly from it, which was the good thing, so last weekend, the work he did was simulated game practice.
“He was jumping out of his skin at training (on Thursday).
“We just want him to, like all of our tall forwards, provide a really strong contest. Hopefully he can mark a few of those, but if he can’t, bring (the ball) to ground.
“Given his experiences in leadership at the West Coast Eagles, he’ll be a really handy player in our forward line, just to help with the organisational side of things. He’s quite vocal.”
Ahead of the Lions embarking on their bid for a hat-trick of premierships, Fagan urged his team to again be “selfless”.
“When you win the premiership, you never get the world’s easiest draw, and everyone’s trying to beat you because you’re the measuring stick,” he said.
“It’s a pressure that we’re accustomed to, but it’s going to come again.
“We’ve just got to knuckle down, work hard through the season, problem solve our way through, find a way to win enough games to play finals again and take it from there.”
