Lions unmoved by push on Starcevich, young guns earn praise

BRISBANE has no problems with the push that resulted in Brandon Starcevich suffering a concussion, with assistant coach Stuart Dew saying there was no malice from Adelaide’s Daniel Curtin.

Starcevich will be unavailable for the Lions’ season-opener against Geelong next Thursday night after he cannoned into Luke Pedlar following a push from Curtin.

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In an action similar to that which resulted in Richmond’s Sam Lalor suffering a fractured jaw against West Coast last week, Starcevich crumpled to the ground and groggily left the field.

Dew described the incident as “unfortunate”, saying he would leave it up to the Match Review Officer to decide whether further action was required.

“I don’t think there’s any malice in it,” Dew said.

“I think they’re just trying to contest the ball and sometimes players are going to get it wrong. It’s a contact sport.

“They’ll work out whether that needs to be looked at.”

Adelaide coaching director Murray Davis, who was at the Lions for 13 years before his off-season move, said he hadn’t seen the collision.

“‘Starce’, having worked with him, is the most courageous and one of the toughest players going around, so I just hope he’s OK,” Davis said

In a thrilling AAMI Community Series contest that Adelaide snatched by kicking the game’s final four goals, two top-10 draft picks shone brightly.

Brisbane’s Levi Ashcroft racked up 23 disposals and kicked a brilliant final-term goal to all-but seal a debut next week against the Cats.

“He’s impressive isn’t he?” Dew said.

“A bit of water to go under the bridge there (selection), but these last two weeks … Levi has done all he can.

“He shows a pretty cool head under pressure.”

The teenager taken one pick before Ashcroft in last November’s Telstra AFL Draft, Sid Draper, had a huge impact in his two quarters of play, finishing with 14 touches in a dynamic showing.

“We’ve been really happy with how he’s progressing, but he should be really pleased with the way he went, I know our midfield coach was,” Davis said.

“He just gives us a bit of a different dynamic in there … his speed and agility and he’s just a difficult match-up.”