ANOTHER sickening head knock to Jonathan Brown ensured a Bugg made a bigger impact than the Brisbane Lions "Mozzie squad" as Greater Western Sydney grabbed a historic 45-point win on Saturday night at the Gabba.
The Giants claimed their first away win on their 28th attempt, sixth victory overall in 56 starts, and their maiden triumph over the Lions.
The 19.11 (125) to 12.8 (80) scoreline was also their biggest winning margin, eclipsing the 37-point victory over Melbourne in round 19 last year.
The Lions' pride might have been damaged but, arguably, veteran forward Brown was hurting the most after suffering his third head injury in 12 months when he ran into Tomas Bugg early in the third term.
A brave Brown again ran backwards into the contest before his head connected with Bugg's hip, leaving the triple premiership winner dazed and confused.
Alarm bells were ringing when he was escorted off the ground and quickly substituted, but he was later diagnosed with a heavy concussion.
The Giants kicked the next two goals - and five straight in total - and did not look back as they largely silenced the 12,700 Gabba crowd.
The Giants stood tall despite the threat of the local Mozzie squad - small forwards Josh Green, Lewis Taylor and Dayne Zorko.
The trio had been the catalyst for Brisbane's mini-revival of two straight wins.
Taylor, Zorko (both with three goals) and Green (one major) were again impressive, but nothing could stop the Giants nabbing a win that will go a long way towards them avoiding another wooden spoon.
Brisbane lost key man Daniel Merrett (throat infection) before the match.
The Giants only led by one point at the first break - 4.3 (27) to 4.2 (26) - and halftime, 9.4 (58) to 9.3 (57).
Then Brown went down.
The Giants jumped to a 21-point buffer at the final break and were never headed.
Lions coach Justin Leppitsch played down Brown's injury, saying he did not even think his star forward would require scans.
"Hopefully there is enough metal in there now for it to hold together," he said.
"I don't know if we were shellshocked. But I would like to think we could overcome something like that to perform well."
BRISBANE LIONS 4.2 9.3 12.3 12.8 (80)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 4.3 9.4 15.6 19.11 (125)
GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Zorko 3, Taylor 3, Brown 2, Close 2, Gardiner, Green
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 4, Patton 3, Treloar 2, Tomlinson 2, Shiel 2, Palmer, Scully, Hoskin-Elliott, Hunt, Wilson, Whitfield
BEST
Brisbane Lions: Taylor, Hanley, Zorko, Redden, Paparone
Greater Western Sydney: Whitfield, Shiel, Mumford, Treloar, Ward, Scully
INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: Merrett (throat infection) replaced in selected side by Close, Brown (face).
Greater Western Sydney: Corr (shoulder) replaced in selection side by Bugg, Kennedy (shoulder) replaced in selected side by Wilson.
SUBSTITUTES
Brisbane Lions: Zac O'Brien replaced Jonathan Brown (face) in the third quarter
Greater Western Sydney: Stephen Coniglio replaced Jacob Townsend in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Stephens, Nicholls, Harris
Official crowd: 12,700 at the Gabba
