The Brisbane Lions put a turbulent week behind them with their biggest win of the AFL season over Greater Western Sydney at the Gabba.
With former Fremantle mentor Mark Harvey taking over from the dumped Michael Voss as head coach, the Lions dominated the young Giants for a 18.15 (123) to 9.9 (63) victory.
Voss’s controversial mid-week axing was met with one of the lowest home crowds the club has seen with only 13,855 fans turning out to watch the lop-sided affair.
Playing his first game in seven weeks after overcoming a groin strain, Simon Black again showed his class with 28 disposals against the outclassed GWS midfield.
The 60-point margin was almost double the 12th-placed Lions’ previous biggest victory this season but it came after their remote finals hopes were snuffed out by Port Adelaide and Carlton’s wins earlier on Saturday.
There were few highlights for the Giants but they showed plenty of heart in the final term, kicking five goals to two after trailing by 80 at the last change.
Jeremy Cameron was restricted to two goals from limited chances but his double sees him move into a three-way tie with West Coast’s Josh Kennedy and Hawthorn’s Jarryd Roughhead for the Coleman Medal with two rounds to play.
While GWS boast a host of rising stars, it was Brisbane rookie Sam Mayes who shone most in the drizzle with four first-half goals and 21 possessions from the wing.
The Giants’ heavy flooding tactics early backfired as they struggled for possession and opportunity.
Stephen Coniglio kicked long for the opening goal of the game, but it was the Giants’ only major of the opening term as Brisbane quickly took control.
With Black making an impressive return, the Lions enjoyed a whopping 25 inside 50s to grab a 28-point lead into quarter-time.
Brisbane kicked seven more goals in second quarter, highlighted by Mayes’ fourth, a superb snap from boundary line.
Brent Staker and Josh Green finished with three goals each.
Harvey was pleased by the way the Lions responded to the shock loss of Voss.
“It’s been a difficult week in many ways and it’s always hard to understand how the players are going to react in those circumstances,” the caretaker coach said.
“We were happy with the way we pressured a young team, especially early.”
Vice-captain Daniel Rich added: “The first quarter set the scene and it was a big tick for the boys”.
Apart from a scrappy finish, the Lions were also concerned by a hip flexor injury to Pearce Hanley who is in doubt for next Sunday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs.
GWS coach Kevin Sheedy was disgusted by his team’s first-half display, delivering the first halftime spray of his two years at the Giants.
“I lost my voice at halftime,” he admitted.
“I thought it was a very, very ordinary effort in the first half.
“The contested ball was very poor.”
But Sheedy was well pleased with the second-half fightback and felt they wasted four extra goals late through inaccuracy.
Reportedly being sized up for a return to Essendon to help his strife-torn former club, Sheedy said he’d been sounded out but was negotiating for a new role with the Giants.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
A little off topic but check the link below for the plans for Brisbane's new elite training facility at Springwood: http://www.lions.com.au/news/2013-08-15/new-home-at-springfield- On top of Pearce Handly signing a 5 year deal its some good news for the Lions after the start of last week.
Australian Rules
Guest
As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence of AFL stadiums ever fudging attendance figures...despite what snarky conspiracy theorists may want to believe. It's important to remember - the stadiums provide the figures, not the AFL. At any rate, I don't think "small crowds" are keeping Andy D up at night. There are, however, many examples of fudgy NRL crowd numbers. Particularly the Titans, who were caught out including all the free tickets they had given away for games, as opposed to counting those who actually turned up.
Little Bob
Guest
10,000 is probably not a bad turn-out considering the Lions were playing a completely uncompetitive team with absolutely nothing at stake on a drizzly night when the Bledisloe was on. Don't think it was too much about a Vossy backlash.... Interesting chat to a club insider at the game though. The decision to not renew Voss was made almost two months ago, the reason the club didn't wait to the end of the season was that they would've had to renew the Assistant Coach contracts and if the incoming coach wanted to bring in his own team they'd be stuck paying out the current guys. It looked ugly but at the end of the day it's a business and they've probably made the right call. Whoever takes the reins should have a bit to work with next season, the young boys look alright.
TW
Guest
Off topic but involves grassroots Aussie Rules footy in Sydney which includes the Giants. A very interesting initial season of the AFL NSW/ACT Independent Schools Competition has just finished, and expansion plans underway for 2014 by at least 50%. This is the second attempt in recent years to get this program underway. The first comp was set up in circa 2005/6 by ex AFL NSW manager Dale Holmes. It folded up shortly after due to some schools having second thoughts at the time. One school may not rejoin but others are keen to stay involved and playing numbers will increase over this year. The article below from the Telegraph delves right into it and gives football code playing numbers at the bottom of the piece. Lets face it our game is a long way behind in numbers but you have to start somewhere. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/afl-kicks-into-rugby8217s-backyard-invading-elite-private-schools/story-fni0cx12-1226698955700
Stavros
Guest
Yes I do. 13k seemed about right. Why would they not give an honest crowd figure? If there was less than 10k then what difference would it make, as it was a poor crowd anyway. I personally think it was attributed to GWS being the opposition and not any Voss backlash.
John Ryan
Roar Pro
The AFL have bigger worries than that well well such as making up the numbers for every crowd at GWS games in Sydney
gawa
Guest
Stavros, so you reckon the Gabba was 1/3 full yesterday?
Stavros
Guest
Your estimation skills are way off if you think there were only 6,500 there. Why couldn't they have an official figure under 10k?. I think that you think that the AFL worry about those things more than they do. They have got bigger things to worry about at the moment.
gawa
Guest
Allan, really struggling to see how the stadium was at 1/3 capacity last night. More realistically it was around half of that, but of course we couldn't have an official crowd figure in Brisbane under 10, 000.
Allan
Guest
Got any proof of that ?
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Pretty good 3 quarter performance by the Lions. Less said about the last quarter the better. Mind you I'm not complaining as I took GWS with 65.5 start.
Allan
Guest
Gawa - it was about that but at least it wasn't NRL way of crowd postings which are always just over the 1,000 mark. For example, instead of been 12,534 it's upgraded to 13,005. Just examine the crowds in nrl in the last 2 rounds.
gawa
Guest
No way was there anywhere near 13k at that game
Robert
Guest
The board at the Lions had want to make sure they get Roos,because judging by last nights rugby league sized crowd,the fans arent happy -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.