Brisbane exacts revenge over Gold Coast Suns

Brisbane exacted revenge over local rival Gold Coast with a 10-goal win in a lifeless and at times farcical derby at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The Lions drew one-all in head-to-head clashes with the fledgling Suns on the back of their 18.15 (123) to 8.13 (61) win in front of 23,565.

It was only the Lions’ second win from their past 11 matches, their fourth win for the season, and cushions the pain of their gut wrenching eight-point loss to the Suns in round seven at the Gabba.

Brisbane controlled the game from the outset after kicking the first four majors of the game.

They quickly raced to a 23-point lead and while the Suns were able to peg the margin back to 11 points in the second term it was to be the closest margin of the match.

Lions Brownlow medallist Simon Black had a huge influence in the result with 34 disposals and was one of the side’s dozen goalscorers.

Such was Brisbane’s dominance, Suns’ fullback Nathan Bock led their disposal count for most of the night and finished with 27 touches, just one behind his skipper Gary Ablett.

Inaccurate field kicking marred the contest with exactly a third of the 408 kicks for the evening being either ineffective or clangers, making it a difficult and frustrating game to watch for both sides’ fans.

In the third quarter, Brisbane dominated but could only kick 3.6 – missing a number of gettable set shots, while the Suns added 1.4.

It took until the final term for the Lions to break open the game.

They banged on eight goals in the final quarter, with Matthew Leuenberger and Sam Sheldon both kicking two apiece.

Brisbane coach Michael Voss said although it took until the late in the second half to ensure victory, he felt as if they had the Suns’ measure from the outset.

“I thought most times (when we went forward) we were going to score,” Voss said.

“We spoke about patience all night and you couldn’t rush the result, so it was more about keeping it simple and not over think it.

“We thought our way through it … they weren’t getting any ball movement flow and generally our defence was really, really good.

“We were generally looking dangerous across the whole night.”

Suns’ coach Guy McKenna berated his players for a lack of effort.

He said they failed to chase, create and move the ball quickly which was a major disappointment after giving them a light week on the training track to freshen them up for the clash.

“The most disappointing thing about the night was the lack of effort,” McKenna said.

“We made them look quick because we couldn’t go.

“It’s difficult to manufacture things when there is no effort.

“We’ve tried to look after them as much as we can during the season … we gave them two days off this week.”

The Lions will look at bringing back midfielder Daniel Rich against Collingwood next week, while code-hopper Karmichael Hunt may return for the Suns against Adelaide.

Both players performed well their respective reserves sides.