The Brisbane Lions have finally defeated their 5 year bogey side, Sydney, in a skillful display at rain-sodden Gabba. A 20-point lead in the first quarter set up Brisbane to take out the match by 33 points.
The Lions shot out to an early lead with goals to forward spearhead Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw. Even in the first moments of the match the Brisbane outfit looked more desperate and technically superior with the football, with impressive midfield performances by youngsters Bradd Dalziell, Josh Drummond and Daniel Rich. Barry Hall steadied the game for the visitors with strong marking in the goal square, but up forward he was virtually a lone-hand.
The second term mirrored the first as Brisbane’s attack on the football overwhelmed Sydney, who were ironically expected to outdo the Lions in this aspect of the match. Brisbane extended the margin with goals to Travis Johnstone and Justin Sherman, to get Brisbane to a point were they were seemingly ensured a victory.
Darren Jolly fought hard for the Swans, rewarded with 2 early goals in the third term to give Sydney some hope. But this was shortly extinguished by the pace of Brisbane, who proved to coach Michael Voss that they were on track to deliver their first four-quarter of he season.
The rain continued to fall well into the final term as both teams ran out of legs. Brisbane held on to win by 33 points in a very impressive display over an inconsistent Sydney, who performed noticably better the previous week.
The shining light for the Swans was young talent Brett Merideth, and ball-winner Jude Bolton. For the Lions, it was Drummond, Bradshaw, Brown, Dalziell and Selwood that starred. Also notable was Joel Patfull’s tagging effort against Adam Goodes, who historically dominted against Brisbane.
Brisbane Lions 4.4 10.6 12.9 15.10 (100)
Sydney Swans 1.2 4.5 7.10 9.13 (67)
GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Brown 4, Bradshaw 4, Sherman 3, Rich, Drummond, Notting , Adcock.
Sydney Swans: Hall 3, Jolly 2, White, Meredith, Barlow, Moore.
BEST
Brisbane Lions: Patfull, Drummond, Brown, Selwood, Adcock, Macdonald
Sydney Swans: Bolton, Bevan, Shaw, Jack, Jolly, Hall
INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: Leuenberger (knee)
Sydney Swans: Crouch (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: H.Ryan, S.Meredith, S.McInerney
Crowd: 24, 984 at the Gabba