Lions beat Magpies, book grand final against Cats
Roger Vaughan |
Reigning premiers Brisbane will play in their third straight AFL season decider after a massive second half set them up for their 29-point preliminary final defeat of Collingwood.
The Lions will meet Geelong in a grand final for the first time next Saturday, a fortnight after the Cats dominated their qualifying final.
“Lachie Neale watch” will now dominate grand final week, with the Lions star confident he can prove his fitness after suffering a calf injury against the Cats.
Fellow midfielders Jarrod Berry (dislocated shoulder) and Josh Dunkley (ankle) were also hurt against Collingwood. Â
While Saturday’s 15.10 (100) to 11.5 (71) win ended up being conclusive, huge controversy erupted in the last quarter when Magpies forward Jamie Elliott was not paid a free kick close to goal.
Had he been paid the free for a front-on spoil from opponent Brandon Starcevich and converted, the Magpies would have trailed by just six points.
Instead, the Lions swiftly went down the other end of the field and kicked a goal themselves, the first of a four-goal burst that decided the clash.
“Was it a free kick, did you think? All I know is Starc did everything he could to spoil that ball, which is all we can ask for,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.
“Preliminary finals are like that – they’re emotional, fast-paced, crazy games.
“I will let all the experts on umpiring decide what should have been paid.”
Collingwood coach Craig McRae said it probably should have been a free kick, but added there were no excuses.
“It looked like that, it did – no guarantee he kicks the goal though, is it?,” McRae said.
“Losers make excuses, we don’t. We’re winners and we didn’t win today, clearly beaten by a better team.
“They would have beaten us anyway, the way they were playing.”
Having dominated the first quarter, Brisbane were in major trouble at halftime after Collingwood kicked six goals to none in the second term for a 13-point lead.
But the Lions went on a three-goal burst in five minutes at the start of the third quarter that wrested the momentum back.
Brisbane kicked 11 goals to four in the second half, with Collingwood unable to rally enough despite Elliott providing the highlight of the game in the third term with a soaring mark over Starcevich before kicking the goal.
Fagan revealed post-match Brisbane’s theme for the week had been redemption for their 2023 grand final loss to the Magpies.
It was brought up again at halftime when the game was on the brink.
“I know we beat them a few weeks ago, but we felt as a team that we couldn’t get any redemption for that loss in the 2023 grand final, until we were actually able to beat Collingwood in a final,” Fagan said.
“We’d been talking about that a fair bit all week and we talked about that again at halftime … ‘Well, that’s what we want to do’.
“We got a little bit (of redemption) … not the same as a losing grand final performance, but still an opportunity to have another go at winning one.”
All-Australian Hugh McCluggage, tagged out of the qualifying final against Geelong, was best afield against Collingwood with 37 disposals and 10 clearances.
Youngster Ty Gallop kicked three goals, while the Daicos brothers shone for Collingwood and Elliott finished with a game-high four goals.
Collingwood made a disastrous start when Scott Pendlebury, at 37 the AFL’s oldest current player, went off in the first five minutes.
His 425th game ended after just 10 minutes when he was subbed out with a left calf injury.
.”I loved tonight, the way we responded after Collingwood looked like they were going to rip the game away from us in that second quarter,” Fagan said.
McRae said Collingwood had been unable to execute consistently enough in critical moments.
“It comes to an end real quick … just (feeling) overwhelming disappointment,” he said.
“They’re bloody hard to win and it takes a long time to get back here.”
AAP
