Australian Football

Match Report

The concept of routine wins is hard to fathom in season 2017 but if they still exist, then Saturday's match at the Gabba between Brisbane and GWS was one of them, with the Giants thumping the young Lions by 60 points in the manner one might expect of a team second on the ladder playing one sitting in last place. The home side hung in for a quarter but was blown away in the middle two terms by one of the premiership favourites, before putting up a strong show to outscore GWS in the final term to limit the severity of the loss.

Brisbane was struck an early blow when captain Dayne Beams was forced from the field with a shoulder injury in just the second minute of the match. He was unable to return to the field. Soon after Giant Dylan Shiel snapped a goal to give GWS a lead it would not relinquish for the entire game. After a run of behinds from both sides, Jeremy Cameron kicked his first major to give the Giants an 11-point lead but Brisbane did quite well from there, outscoring the visitors three goals to two - the majors going to Eric Hipwood and Ryan Lester - to trail by just five points at quarter time.

Early second-quarter goals to Jonathon Patton and Toby Greene saw the Giants extend their lead to 18 points as they looked to stamp themselves on the match but a long goal from Ryan Bastinac at the nine-minute mark brought the Lions' deficit back to 12. Sam Reid added another goal for GWS but Brisbane responded again through Lewis Taylor and the margin was still only 14 points halfway through the quarter. The Giants broke away late in the term, though, and goals to Tim Taranto, Greene and Patton had them ahead by a comfortable 33 points at the half.

The Lions needed the first goal of the second half but after a scoreless arm-wrestle for the first four minutes of the third quarter, it was GWS which broke through, Reid kicking his second goal to extend the lead to 39. The Giants then added two more through Steve Johnson and Greene before Brisbane finally got its first major of the quarter through Lester. The Lions then had a brief period in which they controlled proceedings, but a goal to Stefan Martin was accompanied by misses to Jarrod Berry and Taylor. The margin was a manageable 35 points at the midpoint of the term, but the Giants broke away to six of the seven goals scored in the latter part of the quarter, and their lead at the final change was out to an insurmountable 67 points.

Only the formalities remained in the final quarter and when Cameron kicked his fourth of the day at the two-minute mark to extend the Giants' lead to 73 points, a three-figure final margin seemed a distinct possibility. But Lions' coach Chris Fagan would have been pleased with the way his charges fought out the match. Brisbane actually outscored the Giants five goals to two from that point, winning the quarter to cut the final margin to an even 10 goals and give Lions' fans hope for the future.

Best for the winners included Dylan Shiel (38 possessions and a goal) and Patton (13 marks, four goals), while Brisbane was well served by Rhys Mathieson (32 disposals, six tackles) and Tom Rockliff (27 touches, four tackles).

The win took GWS back to the top of the ladder after Adelaide's unexpected loss to Hawthorn. The Giants will host third-placed Geelong at the Sydney Showground on Saturday night in what should be an interesting encounter. Brisbane (last, 2-11) will travel to Melbourne to take on Essendon (11th, 6-7) at Docklands on Sunday.

GOALS
Brisbane: Lester, Smith, Bastinac 2; Hipwood, Taylor, Martin, Cutler, McStay, Berry
Greater Western Sydney: Greene, Patton, Cameron 4; Johnson, Reid 2; Shiel, Himmelberg, Taranto, Ward, Williams, Lloyd

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Brisbane: Mathieson, Rockliff, Witherden, Berry, McCluggage, Taylor
Greater Western Sydney: Shiel, Patton, Reid, Greene, Whitfield, Ward, Cameron

BEST - BRISBANETIMES.COM.AU
Brisbane: Rockliff, Mathieson, Berry, Witherden, Martin, McLuggage
Greater Western Sydney: Shiel, Patton, Greene, Cameron, Reid, Ward

INJURIES
Brisbane : D.Beams (shoulder)
Greater Western Sydney: Taranto (shin)

UMPIRES: Haussen, Deboy, Chamberlain

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Adam Papalia, Dermott Brereton, Alastair Lynch, Nick Dal Santo