BRISBANE Lions great Jonathan Brown says if his former team is to have any hope of downing the GWS Giants on Sunday at Spotless Stadium they will need to find a way of closing down Shane Mumford.
Last week Will Minson gave the rest of the competition a tutorial in stopping the GWS run.
“The Giants are a classy young team but last week showed they are heavily dependent on Shane Mumford,” Brown said.
“If Mumford has a bad day, which is rare, or he gets injured how do they cover that?
“I thought on the weekend the loss to the Bulldogs exposed that.
“Will Minson beat Mummy and now opposition teams will see how they can stop him from getting first use of the ball.
If Mummy gets that initial possession their outside midfielders just take off and run.”
Despite the loss to the Bulldogs the triple premiership player believes the Giants will still make the eight and could even sneak into the top four this year.
“I’m a big fan of GWS,” Brown said.
“They’re a top eight team and they might be a top four team if they are the one of about four teams who can sneak into fourth.
“They’ve recruited well and they’ve kept their powder dry before they’ve loaded up on free agents.
“They’ve waited till their young players are in their early 20s before they’ve gone out and got players like Mumford, Patfull, Shaw and Griffen.
“The bonus for GWS is Griffen hasn’t really hit his straps.
“I’ve always thought their list build was better than the Gold Coast.
“Gold Coast went and signed veterans but most of those have gone now.”
A former teammate of Brown’s has also been a massive plus for the previously overworked Greater Western Sydney defence.
“Joel (Patfull) is massively underrated,” Brown said.
“He was a great player for the Lions and he is continuing that form with GWS.
“They are nearly the best team in the comp for taking the ball from the defensive 50 to forward 50.
“Joel and Heath Shaw are good kickers coming out of defence.”
As one of the greatest key forwards of the modern era Brown has a soft spot for the game’s goal kickers, like most he’s a fan of Giants star Jeremy Cameron.
“When he’s got his all around game going he has the ability to get back on the ball with leg speed to do it,” Brown said.
“That has to be the bonus, not the main game for him. He still has to work up to the ball and get himself into contested marking situations, he’s now getting the strength to do that.”