Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews today turned to a classic of children’s literature in a bid to turn around his team’s woeful form and also teach Jonathan Brown how to read. Referring to AA Milne’s well known stories about a mischievous bear, Matthews spoke in language that would be accessible to his players rather than the usual fire and brimstone laced with profanities.
"We are having an anti-Eeyore week this week," he said.
"You know Eeyore out of Pooh bear - 'Ooooh it's a sad day'. So we are having an anti-Eeyore week."
Making strange references to the Gabba as "The Hundred Acre Wood" and labelling star midfielder Luke Power "poor little Piglet", Matthews seemed optimistic looking ahead to this week’s match against "the Tiggers".
"Apart from Richo, I don’t think they have any horrible Heffalumps playing for them", he said. “So we’re going to be focused on getting our share of the honeypot this week and then running like Rabbits”.
Asked to comment on Matthews unorthodox comments, burly forward Brown adjusted the bolts in his neck and said, “Books … good, pictures … good,” before lumbering off the training track with an illustrated copy of The Wind In The Willows tucked into his shorts.
