Defending premiers Brisbane Lions have surged to another AFL comeback win and ended a 20-year Geelong hoodoo, roaring home to win by nine points at the Gabba.
The Lions trailed by 32 points on a damp Saturday night but staged a dramatic second-half revival to win 10.10 (70) to 9.7 (61).
It was Brisbane’s first back-to-back wins against the Cats since 2005 after they came from 25 points behind to win last year’s preliminary final.
They moved to 3-0, having overcome early deficits in all of this season’s wins, while Geelong dropped to 1-2.
Defender Jack Payne was immense in the second half, so too Hugh McCluggage (30 disposals) and Will Ashcroft (33) after Cats recruit Bailey Smith (25, 10 tackles) and captain Patrick Dangerfield had caused early problems.
Both sides had late personnel changes, Oscar McInerney (illness) out for Brisbane and Tom Stewart (knee) scratched after he was substituted last week.
Geelong had schooled the hosts at a drenched Gabba a year ago and were doing it again in the first half on Saturday.
Chris Scott’s men had numbers around the ball and were cleaner with it, Oliver Henry opening the scoring before Oliver Dempsey and Jeremy Cameron waltzed in for first-quarter goals.
The Lions stayed close despite their concerns until four goals in 12 minutes at the back-end of the second quarter swung the contest dramatically in Geelong’s favour.
Smith was dominant in his return from injury as Mark Blicavs, Dangerfield, Max Holmes and Brad Close all goaled and the host’s fumbled and stumbled towards halftime, down by 32 points.
But Ashcroft’s desperate tackle won a free kick and led to his goal that stopped the rot for Brisbane before the main break.
They returned on a drier Gabba surface a different outfit, 20-4 inside 50s reflective of their dominance that eventually told when Ashcroft’s younger brother Levi drilled his first AFL goal, off one step from 45 metres.
Kai Lohmann was then substituted for Bruce Reville after a quiet night in his return from an ankle injury and his first two involvements super-charged his team.
First Reville collected at halfback and bounced twice before hitting up Logan Morris for a goal.
He then added a major of his own, launching a goal from 50m to give the Lions a fifth-straight goal and their first lead moments before three-quarter time.
After a scoreless term Dangerfield popped up with a timely strike from a similar distance to begin the final term and retake the lead.
Zac Bailey took his next chance to give Brisbane back the lead that swelled to nine points with five minutes to play when Cameron found Zorko drifting forward.
Jarrod Berry ran into an open goal to give the Lions some breathing space but Jyhe Clark’s goal – one of only two Geelong second-half majors – ensured a nervous final minute.
