THE Brisbane Lions moved into the top eight – at least temporarily – with a scrappy but convincing 37-point win over the Kangaroos at the Gabba on Saturday night.
While the win might have lacked the flair of recent thrashings of Carlton and Collingwood, the majority of the 29,233-strong crowd were delighted by a 10.17 (77) to 5.10 (40) victory that put the Lions in the top half of the ladder for the first time since Round seven.
They now sit seventh, with ninth-placed Sydney to play Melbourne and 10th-placed Essendon squaring off against Hawthorn on Sunday.
The first 15 minutes of the game provided the blueprint for the remainder of the match, with the Lions controlling play but not necessarily projecting their dominance onto the scoreboard.
The home side registered four behinds before Wayde Mills became an unlikely leading goal-scorer in the game’s 13th minute, with his first major in AFL football after a strong mark.
Jonathan Brown and Joel Macdonald added goals of their own in the five minutes the followed – the latter capping a superb sweeping move from defence – and it wasn’t until time-on that the Kangaroos troubled the scorers with a Drew Petrie behind.
The Lions took a 22-point advantage into the first change but the difference was soon cut to a mere 10 points when Aaron Edwards and Shannon Grant goaled with four minutes of the restart.
Those goals, however, were the only two that the Roos would muster before-half-time. At the other end Brown got free to kick two of his own and the Lions, thanks also to five behinds, were able to go into the long break with the same lead they held at quarter-time.
The third term brought a pair of Lions highlights, with Mills soaring to mark in the square and kicking his second career goal and Brennan snaring a special in the pocket, before intelligently squaring to Brown for his fourth for the evening.
As had been the case with the second stanza, the third quarter finished at two goals a piece – Eddie Sansbury and Scott McMahon split the big sticks for the Roos – and the Lions turned for home with a more than handy 25-point break.
Any chance the Kangaroos had of staging an improbable comeback were foiled when the first 12 minutes of the last quarter came without them posting a fifth goal.
When the last quarter’s opening major did arrive it was via the boot of Brown and gave the Coleman Medal favourite as many goals - five - as the Roos would kick for the night.
Brennan received reward for effort when he chimed in shortly afterwards. His seven-goal haul against Collingwood a week previous was always going to be hard to match, but he was active and dangerous throughout and thoroughly deserved to slot home from a sharp angle after a searching run and bounce.
Fittingly, a sixth goal from Brown sealed the satisfying victory.
As has been the case in each of their five successive victories, the Lions had a host of contributors.
Tim Notting had 25 possessions and gave his side plenty of run and drive, while a characteristically pumped up Jamie Charman had the better of fellow All-Australian ruck candidate Hamish McIntosh, particularly in the early going.
Jed Adcock (29 touches) had another fine game in the midfield, Nigel Lappin (31 touches) continues to find the footy and Brown had the better of an absorbing battle with Michael Firrito, taking 14 marks and kicking 6.6.
Daniel Merrett was typically solid at full-back, spoiling everything that came his way, usually with an imposing punch.
BRISBANE LIONS 3.5 5.10 7.14 10.17 (77)
KANGAROOS 0.1 2.6 4.7 5.10 (40)
Goals
Brisbane: J Brown 6, W Mills 2, J Macdonald, J Brennan
Kangaroos: A Edwards, S Grant, E Sansbury, S McMahon, D Wells
Best
Brisbane: J Charman, W Mills, J Adcock, J Brown, J Brennan
Kangaroos: B Harvey, D Wells, B Rawlings, K Green
Injuries
Brisbane: J Drummond (knee) replaced in selected side by M Moody, T Selwood (shoulder) A McGrath (wrist)
Kangaroos: G Archer (flu) replaced in selected side by L Brown
Reports
Nil
Umpires: B Allen, S Wenn, D Woodcock
Official Crowd: 29,233 at the Gabba
