THE BRISBANE Lions have overcome an emotion-charged Melbourne to easily win their round one contest at the MCG on Saturday.
Before the match, the crowd of 38,373 honoured Jim Stynes by participating in a minute's applause for the late champion.
Garry Lyon, speaking in the Triple M commentary match, said afterwards: "What he would want now is to get on with it."
Both teams did get on with it in the first half. The lead changed eight times in the second quarter before the Lions took a four-point lead into the long break.
But only the Lions got on with it after that, kicking six goals in a row in the third quarter as a hugely disappointing Demons side stopped.
The Lions then kicked another four goals to Melbourne's three in the last quarter to run out winners by 41 points, having led by as much as 48 points early in the last quarter.
The Lions' dominance during the third quarter was exemplified by their 22 uncontested marks to seven. They ended up with a massive 100 more uncontested possessions.
The Lions moved the ball quickly to teammates in the clear whereas Melbourne was slow and predictable in kicking long into the forward line.
This tactic's failure was evident in the inability of the Demons' forwards to have an effect. Boom recruit Mitch Clark had 10 disposals, took four marks and kicked two goals.
Throughout last year, Melbourne showed a disturbing inability to stop the rot when the opposition got a run on. That was again the case.
During the third quarter Lions champion Simon Black — who is 32, and has never been fast — waltzed through half-forward, took a bounce and dished off to busy half-back Ash McGrath, who slipped past two defenders to kick a goal.
The evergreen Black was best on ground, with his clearance work a delight.
The Lions were playing midfielder Tom Rockliff mostly at full-forward, where he was too clever for his opponent Jack Grimes, the Melbourne captain.
Rockliff kicked three goals but he could have kicked eight.
All the applause after the match was for the young Lions, who showed every sign of troubling more fancied teams.
MELBOURNE 3.3 7.4 8.8 17.17 (78)
BRISBANE LIONS 1.4 7.8 13.13 11.12 (119)
Goals
Melbourne: Magner (2), Howe (2), Clark (2), Martin, Watts, Trengove, Green, Davey
Brisbane Lions: Rockliff (3), Banfield (3), Polkinghorne (3), Hanley (2), Merrett (2), Leuenberger, Adcock, McGrath, Sheldon
Best
Melbourne: Magner, Trengove, Watts, Frawley
Brisbane Lions: Black, Rich, Hanley, Rockliff, Adcock, McGrath
Substitutes
Melbourne: Sam Blease replaced by Matthew Bate at three-quarter time
Brisbane Lions: Rohan Bewick replaced by Sam Sheldon at three-quarter time
Injuries
Melbourne: Magner (ankle)
Brisbane Lions: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Dalgleish, Leppard, Grun
Official crowd: 33,473 at MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
