This was published 3 years ago
Good night, thanks for following tonight’s blog.
What a crazy night that was, with Max Gawn suffering an early knee injury and Brisbane racing to a 40-point lead half-way through the final term before a power outage halted play, only for the Demons to kick six goals upon resumption and get within 11 points.
We’ll see you back tomorrow for another big day of footy.
There are several talking points to emerge from the Brisbane Lions’ victory over Melbourne at the Gabba on Friday night, but only one is going to dominate conversation for the next week. And it’s not the knee injury to Max Gawn that derailed the Demons’ night.
With 12 minutes remaining in the match, and the Lions 40 points up and virtually home, there was a booming noise – and darkness descended inside the ground and out. Players, officials and crowd alike were left bewildered and play was stopped.
The apparent cause was a fire in a light tower. Under AFL provisions, play had to re-start within an hour, otherwise the game would be concluded with the scores allowed to stand. After 38 minutes, play did resume – and even then, the match still had one final twist.
Abbey Holmes speaks to Dees defender Jake Lever post-match.
A very strange evening for footy, wasn’t it? You came home hard. You just couldn’t quite run over the top of them.
“Absolutely. I think... Funny. I was saying to you before that I have been involved in four of these games now. Two at the SANFL at my time in Adelaide and two AFL. Yeah. It is interesting. I think that when it happens, it takes 10 seconds to realise. It probably just proves that you are never out of any game. That’s what we spoke about after the fame. I think we kicked seven or eight goals in a row. We were on the other end of the scale when it last happened at West Coast. We were in front. We sort of felt the same pressure as Brisbane. It proves you can come back from anywhere. We were disappointed with patches we played tonight. Brisbane are a very good side. We respected them. In the end they got the better of us.”
As you said, you are never out of the game. What changed in that final 12 minutes? What conversations were had in here? It obviously worked?
“Yeah. Funny. I think... We spoke about being more aggressive. Like it was like a situation where we had nothing to lose. Probably the flipside is Brisbane think they have got everything to lose and [think] surely not and... I think those two combinations... can really turn and in the end we were able to score, and we had plenty more chances. We missed one and we had a lot of inside 50s. I think it is what it is. We will learn a lot from it, I think. Especially that last 12 minutes. But we have to move on quickly. We have a pretty good side next week in Sydney. We will learn from it. We will definitely move on quick.”
Clayton Oliver finished with 37 disposals, nine tackles, five clearances and 774 metres gained, and was huge in that last 12 minutes as the Demons closed late.
Will Ashcroft amassed a team-high 31 touches, including nine clearances, to be among the Lions’ best.
Dayne Zorko was prolific before he got subbed out, with two goals from 22 disposals.
Lachie Neale and Angus Brayshaw each had 27 touches, while Josh Dunkley had 26 disposals.
Joe Daniher and Ben Brown each slotted four goals.
BT speaks briefly to Will Ashcroft in the rooms post-match.
Will Ashcroft, might have a quick chat. How are you feeling? Two games in. How are you travelling?
Very good. Very good win tonight. Hopefully, can build on it.
Impressed with the attitude change and the way things worked out in the first three-and-ahalf quarters.
Addressed it. Came out hard. We will park the other stuff and get on with it.
Abbey Holmes speaks with Lachie Neale and Harris Andrews post-match
What a crazy turn of events, guys. I’m down here with the skippers. What do you even do in that situation?
Neale: “We just sat in the rooms for about 10 minutes and wondered if the game was going to go ahead. We got told if it was 60 minutes without light, game over. We stayed ready. We didn’t come out like that. A good learning. Hopefully, we don’t have to ever be in that situation again.”
Harris, the Dees came strong late in that quarter. Was there any kind of hesitation with the boys down in the rooms? Was there any worry about cooling down? Injury?
Andrews: “No. Our support staff, they were making sure we were on the move, getting prepped. Disappointing that last little patch there. But to get the win against a quality footy team, we are proud of. We will take good learnings from that period and look forward to next week.”
On the power outage:
“Yeah. It was. Very unique. I don’t reckon I have seen anything like that in world sport. It was a disappointing end to it for us probably, to let them back into it. But the first three-quarters were pretty promising. Especially after last week. Then we worked ourselves into the game and won the contest which is where it is won and lost.”
Q: What is going through your mind when the lights went out?
“I wasn’t too sure what they would do with the score, whether they would reset the game or call it off. Bit of a weird one. Yeah. Thankfully, we got to game out here and get the win.”
Q: How are you settling in to life at a Lion? You have had a preseason to build relationships, running in tandem well with Lachie Neale.
“It’s been good. I loved every minute. The boys have been great. Lachie, he is an awesome player to work off and work with now. I remember I tagged him a few times. It’s nice to be on the same side and working together.”
That’s it!
What a chaotic finish that was. Lions win by 11 points.
Bailey Fritsch had a running snap on the siren, but it went through for a behind.
The Demons turned a 40-point deficit into an 11-point loss, saving a stack of percentage.
The Lions just stopped, which was understandable given the 30-minute pause due to the power outage.
FT: Lions 14.9 (93), Demons 13.4 (82)
Wow! It’s now 12 points. Ben Brown has four goals.
The Demons are full of running.
There’s 1.45 min left on the clock.
Jack Gunston is trying to play loose in defence, but it’s hard with the 6-6-6 rule.
Lions 14.9 (93), Demons 13.3 (81)