Australian Football

Match Report

Geelong has maintained its perfect start to the 2014 season with a solid 25-point win against a competitive Bribane at the Gabba on Sunday. Returning to the scene of their amazing loss to the Lions in round 13 last year (in which the Lions overcame a 52-point deficit to win with a post-siren goal from Ash McGrath), the Cats led at every change and staved off several Lions comeback attempts to record a workmanlike victory.

The match had a slow start, with wet conditions resulting in just one goal - to Geelong's Tom Hawkins - being kicked for the entire first term. Brisbane finally got on the board with a major to Sam Mayes in the first minute of the second term and then Dayne Zorko followed up with another almost immediately after to give the Lions a five-point lead. The difficult conditions made goal scoring a tough task and the two sides traded behinds before Mayes kicked another for the Lions to open up a 10-point buffer. The stung Cats then clicked into gear and kicked four of the remaining five goals of the quarter to lead by nine points at the half.

The game opened up to a degree in the third term and the Cats were the main beneficiaries, kicking away to a 30-point lead as the clock ticked into the time-on period, but a couple of late goals to Rohan Bewick and Jonathan Brown saw the margin close to 17 points before George Horlin-Smith to take it back out to four goals at the last change.

Horlin-Smith and Jimmy Bartel kicked the first two majors of the last term to take that lead out to 36 points but two goals to Mayes and another to Brown suddenly had everyone thinking of last year's incredible comeback, as the Lions closed to within 19 points. Alas for Brisbane, it was not to be, with the Cats tightening up and kicking the only remaining goal of the match through Jordan Murdoch to record a relatively comfortable win.

The fourth-placed Cats will take on Collingwood at the MCG next Saturday night, while the Lions will look for the first win of coach Justin Leppitch's career when they travel down the road to take on the Suns at Carrara earlier that day.

GOALS
Brisbane: Mayes 4; Brown 2; Zorko, Green, Moloney, Bewick
Geelong: Hawkins, Varcoe, Bartel, Murdoch, Horlin-Smith 2; Duncan, Hunt, Selwood

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Brisbane: Hanley, Moloney, Zorko, Mayes, Redden
Geelong: Varcoe, Johnson, Stokes, Mackie, Selwood

BEST - BRISBANETIMES.COM.AU
Brisbane: Zorko, Mayes, Redden, Hanley, Moloney
Geelong: Mackie, Varcoe, Selwood, Kelly, Johnson, Stokes

INJURIES
Brisbane: Nil
Geelong: Enright (ankle)

SUBSTITUTES
Brisbane: Michael Close replaced by Rohan Bewick in the third quarter.
Geelong: Corey Enright (ankle) replaced by George Horlin-Smith in the third quarter.

UMPIRES: Dalgleish, Mitchell, Mollison

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Brad Johnson, Alastair Lynch