Greater Western Sydney have consolidated their position among the early AFL frontrunners, with a 34-point win over Brisbane in an AFL match in which both teams kicked poorly.
GWS never trailed at any stage on Saturday night but neither did they look like tearing apart the winless Lions, and the home team recorded a 10.17 (77) to 5.13 (43) victory at Spotless Stadium.
Hard-working Matt de Boer tallied a career-best 34 touches for GWS, who were also well served by fellow veterans Brett Deledio and Ryan Griffen, plus Lachie Whitfield, Tim Taranto and Stephen Coniglio.
Brisbane couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first half, kicking just 1.6.
The Lions enjoyed a 47-4 advantage in the hitouts, with Stefan Martin dominating against makeshift ruckmen Jon Patton and Adam Tomlinson, but GWS largely controlled the game at ground level.
With goals from Zac Langdon, Jeremy Cameron and Deledio, GWS carved out a 17-point lead at the first break.
The Lions’ first six shots were behinds and they didn’t post a goal until 11 minutes into the second quarter when captain and leading possession-getter Dayne Beams landed a long-distance set shot after taking a courageous diving mark.
GWS hit back with majors to Daniel Lloyd, Adam Tomlinson and de Boer to lead by 33 points at halftime.
It took the Lions less than two minutes of the third quarter to kick a goal but GWS kicked the next two majors to establish a match-high advantage of 39 points.
Brisbane booted the last two goals of the term, including a 60m-plus bomb from an otherwise quiet Eric Hipwood, to trail by 26 at the last change and couldn’t reduce the deficit in the last quarter.
Langdon came off in the second quarter with a knee injury, while Brisbane’s Mitch Robinson was placed on report.
josh
Guest
Awesome crowd hey, what was it 10k ? When will people accept this team will never be wanted ?
User
Roar Rookie
Gws will need to lift a few gears for Friday night, seem to be doing the bare minimum
Kk
Guest
GWS don't seem to be really as switched on as they should be at the moment. They have key players in Greene, Kelly, Lobb, Scully and Williams missing but really in games like this they should be winning by 10 or 12 goals. They got away with pinch hitting in the ruck this time but that won't work against any other team except maybe Carlton. Certainly they wouldn't want any other long term injuries and they need to start applying pressure to their opposition.