Brisbane Lions relishing challenge of keeping GWS Giants star Toby Greene quiet again

The Lions are bracing themselves for a Toby Greene onslaught on Saturday night after the GWS Giants star was asked to “play better” by his coach Adam Kingsley.

Greene struggled in the Giants’ six-point loss to the Sydney Swans in last Saturday’s qualifying final at the SCG.

And despite the Giants having beaten Brisbane when the teams met at the Gabba last month, the experienced forward was held to a career-low four disposals by Lions defender Brandon Starcevich.

“We need him to play better than what he did,” Kingsley said this week of Greene.

“He’s one of the best players in the competition. We expect him to work his way through any match-up that he gets and impact the game like he usually does.”

It’s an “impact” that Lions star Josh Dunkley said his side would be ready for in the do-or-die finals affair at Engie Stadium.

“Toby Greene’s one of the best players in the competition when he’s up and about,” Dunkley said on Friday.

“We’ll look to nullify his influence again like we did at the Gabba, and earlier on in the year (at Manuka Oval).

“It’s exciting. When you’re playing against the best players in the comp, what better feeling is there?

“We’ll be looking forward to that challenge … this is what you play footy for.”

Dunkley said the Lions’ nine-game winning streak in the second half of the season had them confident of continuing to win sudden-death matches in the finals series.

“They way that we’ve been able to (perform) with our backs against the wall after earlier this year when we weren’t playing such good footy, we really embraced that challenge,” he said.

“It’s been a bit of a story of our year, and everyone’s year. If you’re playing the best footy at the right time of the year, or on that given day when you’re playing, you’ll come out on top.

“For us it’s been all about timing. I feel like we’re playing out best footy of the year right now.

“Our year’s been up and down, but we managed to string a few games together where we played some really good, consistent footy.”