Look, there's nothing like starting your season with a five-point loss to the Western Bulldogs and then finding out your defensive stocks are about to take a battering from the tribunal. That's the predicament Brisbane finds itself in after the Lions confirmed they will appeal the suspensions of Harris Andrews and Darcy Gardiner to the AFL tribunal.
Here's the thing about the Andrews incident: the Lions' skipper threw back his left arm to block Jones' run but struck him in the face during an aerial contest at the Gabba. Andrews was suspended for three matches on Sunday over high contact that knocked out Bulldog Arty Jones on Saturday night. It's a significant sanction, and you can understand why the club wants to fight it.
Fair dinkum, though, this is where context matters. The incident was graded careless conduct, high contact and severe impact, which under AFL guidelines produces exactly this kind of penalty. The MRO made a call; now Brisbane gets to make its case before the tribunal on Tuesday night.
Gardiner's one-match ban seems more contestable on paper. Gardiner was cited for a high arm to Bulldogs forward Aaron Naughton, conceding a 50m penalty in the fourth term. That incident was ruled high contact, medium impact and careless conduct. Whether the impact grading was right will be a key argument.
What makes this urgent is the fixture list. The Lions face red-hot Sydney and their new spearhead Charlie Curnow at the SCG on Saturday night. Losing both Andrews and Gardiner for that clash would hurt. Andrews would also miss games against St Kilda and Collingwood, if the ban stands, and not return until Gather Round.
There's more injury grief piling up. Brisbane lost Hugh McCluggage to a calf strain in a tense first-up defeat to the Western Bulldogs, and he's out for a couple of weeks.
At the end of the day, the Lions are willing to accept Zac Bailey's one match ban, which shows they're being selective about where they invest tribunal capital. That's smart. They're putting their resources into defending the two cases they believe are worth fighting.
You've got to hand it to a club that bites back when it thinks the MRO got it wrong. Brisbane's dual premiership credentials depend on retaining their best defensive players, and if there's a legitimate argument the tribunal should hear, you fight.