18/08/2026
LIPPY’s LAMENT
I rushed from the enclosure last Saturday morning when the Lion Tamer came to pick me up from Parkvile. I’d been listening to The Lion Sleeps Tonight all night in a vain attempt to nod off and keep the lionesses away from me. I was focused on the midday game with Southport. The game that hopefully would shore up our finals spot, the first shot at glory in a few decades.
I kept telling myself that our form was good, that Southport’s wasn’t, that our motivation was stronger than theirs, and that the home ground and crowd would get us over the line. You’ll get no quarter by quarter analysis from me here. I was wrong, yes, Lippy was wrong, I felt like the Fonz when he was wrong. By middle of the second quarter, I thought we had started to put our stamp on the game. We didn’t, to their credit, the northerners kept on keeping on, and their champion core led the way. It was touch and go all the way, but they had the edge and skipped away in the middle of the last.
We were off, but kept fighting, but had too much dependence on Stevo up forward-he played a brilliant lone hand. We were patchy in the middle of the ground, and often disjointed down back.
The 6 point margin was the killer in the end.
Relying on other matches to go our way is no solace. A win would have guaranteed a week off and double chance. To rely on a club like Carlton to do the right thing by us was not going to happen.
Reality is we lost a game we shouldn’t have, and this happened 2 or 3 times during the season. We have to have a stronger mentality in those vital contests, as well as physical conditioning as good as anyone’s.
This means sticking together, going round again, and adding to our playing stocks. That way the crowd that showed up on Saturday will be there every week, and the Lion community will rise to the top.
Thanks to all the players for the joy they bring, and to the committed support staff that makes everything happen.
I’m as sh*tty as hell, I’m sure you all feel the same, but at least you won’t be locked up in a Lion cage at the zoo till March next year…
Keep the Lion Roar alive.
LIPPY THE LION 🦁
