‘Stoic’ Lions star set for finals ‘impact’

Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich has backed Lions forward Dakota Davidson to “make an impact” in the AFLW finals series following a mixed season that included the devastation of being abused by a crowd member less than a week ago in Melbourne.

Davidson was reduced to tears last Sunday after being a victim of crowd abuse in Brisbane’s 27-point win over St Kilda at RSEA Park.

“The comments she received is not something she hasn’t heard before, but it doesn’t make it any less hurtful,” Starcevich said on Thursday ahead of the Lions’ qualifying final against Hawthorn on Sunday at Ikon Park

“She’s a stoic person and gets on with stuff generally, but these are the things that rock her a little bit, and probably her teammates and coaches as well, to be honest.

“Those things are eating away at her a little bit … (but) she knows where she stands in terms of the love of her teammates and people around her and her family and friends.”

Starcevich said Davidson was determined to find her best form at the business end of the season.

“Dakota’s had an in-and-out year. She missed one (game) with illness and missed one with concussion, so she’s had a few little hiccups on the way through,” the Lions mentor said.

“She would like to think that she can make an impact at the back end of the year.

“I’m sure her and plenty of others in our group who have had bits and pieces throughout the year are slowly starting to put the whole thing together.

“Some of those will come to the fore as well.”

To earn preliminary final hosting rights, the Lions must beat a Hawks side coached by former Brisbane assistant Daniel Webster.

“We’re cut a little bit from the same cloth in terms of we want to play attacking, attractive footy, and his team has been the epitome of that this season,” Starcevich said.

“We’d like to play that (style) as often as we could, and we probably have at points this year, but the other part to our game is we also like to pressure and stifle the opposition a bit too.

“When it comes to final footy, that pressure and chaos, and preventing the opposition from getting their game going is pretty important.

“From a neutral’s perspective, I’d expect it’s going to be quick and open and fast. They’ll want to slow us down and we’ll want to slow them down.

“We can talk about a whole lot of stuff that might happen, but once we get out there and get going, we’ll see what it looks like.”