Lions stay alive with incredible comeback

Kade Simpson and Justin Sherman chase the ball during the AFL 2nd Elimination Final between the Brisbane Lions and the Carlton Blues at the Gabba.

Brisbane star forwards Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw have led the Lions to an incredible 16.15 (111) to 15.14 (104) comeback victory to keep the club’s AFL finals campaign alive and end Carlton’s season.

The Lions trailed by five goals early in the last quarter of Saturday night’s clash at the Gabba, after Carlton’s Cameron Cloke kicked the opening goal of the term.

But Brisbane poured on the last six goals of the match in a stirring 16-minute burst – including two each to Brown and Bradshaw – to surge to a seven-point lead.

Bradshaw kicked the last of those, a magnificent snap over his head from tight on the boundary to delight the crowd of 32,702 and cap the win.

It gave him five for the night, while Brown kicked four.

Decorated midfield veteran Simon Black was another pivotal player, after overcoming concerns about a hamstring injury to take the field.

The victory kept alive Brisbane’s perfect record in Gabba finals, making it 12 wins from as many matches, and was their first win over the Blues in four meetings.

They now play the Western Bulldogs in a semi-final at the MCG on Friday night.

They lost to the Dogs just three weeks ago at the Gabba, but will head to Melbourne with enormous spirit after the character they showed to come back from what seemed an impossible position.

The Blues had made a dream start to their first final in eight years, scoring 3.3 in the opening 10 minutes before the Lions had scored.

Midfield young gun Bryce Gibbs started superbly, setting up the opening goal of the night for Andrew Carrazzo, then having a hand in a brilliant running goal from Matthew Kreuzer.

But Black exerted his influence and Brown and Bradshaw looked dangerous throughout, kicking two goals each for the first half to give the home side a one-point half-time lead.

That was short-lived, however, the Blues seemingly breaking the game apart with a scintillating third quarter.

Full-forward Brendan Fevola sparked their run eight minutes into the term with a chase and tackle on Lions defender Joel Patfull to earn a free kick, from which he goaled.

Nick Stevens kicked two quick majors, the second a beautifully threaded left-footer from tight on the boundary.

Cloke booted a stunner out of mid-air over his head from the goalsquare and Fevola kicked another to end the third term, before Cloke goaled early in the last to seemingly all-but seal the match for the Blues.

But the Carlton big man missed at a crucial time 25 minutes into the quarter after Brisbane had taken the lead.

Cloke’s set shot miss narrowed the gap to a point, before the Lions rushed the ball to the other end, where Bradshaw kicked what proved the sealer.

Skipper Chris Judd was Carlton’s best, but might have a concern when the match review panel meets on Monday.

Television cameras captured an incident in which he appeared to put a finger in the eye of opponent Michael Rischitelli.

Coach Brett Ratten said the Blues were overrun by Brisbane’s surge mentality.

“To their credit they just kept surging forward, hitting forward, knocking forward and just scrambling the ball and they just won a lot of one-on-ones towards the back end,” he said.

Asked whether a loss from such a strong position was harder to take, he said losing any knockout final was a “bitter pill.”
“You can say did we squander the season? We missed an opportunity,” he said.

“As a football club we’ve been screaming out to get these opportunities back into the finals, but we let this one go.”

Brisbane coach Michael Voss said the win typified their year.

“That has been our season. We are the comeback kings,” Voss laughed.

“That’s how we approach our footy.

“It’s an incredible feat (to come back from 30 points down)

“From a club sense it is one of the best wins we have ever had.”

He said they had answered his three-quarter time call.

“I asked them for an extra effort, to think about all the training they had done since the pre-season – and it was an extra effort that they gave me,” he said.

Voss said Black had only been a confirmed starter at 2pm on gameday.

The Lions could be strengthened further by the return of Jed Adcock and Josh Drummond from injury to play the Dogs, with Drummond a late withdrawal for the Blues clash.

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