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The Brisbane Lions can take some positives from their tenth loss of the season, despite going down to a red-hot North Melbourne Kangaroos by 54 points at Etihad Stadium.
While the Lions came out of the gates in the contest, they blew some early opportunities in front of goals, their first four shots all going through as behinds.
At the other end of the ground, North Melbourne had no such problems and with the Brisbane defence going downhill all the time, the Kangaroos would kick five first-quarter goals to take a 33-point lead into the second.
Brisbane managed to get their first major shortly after quarter time, but things didn’t improve for them, as they went into halftime down by 55 points.
They copped three injuries during the first half as well with Allen Christensen, Charlie Cameron and Hugh McCluggage all unable to take part in the second half for Brisbane.
The 55-point lead for the ‘Roos was built their excellent mid-field play. From nearly every stoppage and bounce, they dominated with Shaun Higgins (38 disposals), Luke McDonald (34 disposals), Paul Ahern (29 disposals) and Ben Cunnington (28 disposals) leading the way.
Their dominant play in midfield meant the defensive line of the Lions opened up with ease. By the end of the contest, the Kangaroos had 14 different goalkickers, although no one in particular stood out as Jack Ziebell put on three to lead the way.
The Lions’ accuracy in front of goal continued to hurt them in the first half, but they put in a much stronger second half, actually winning it by a point with the eventual margin being 54.
Dayne Beams led the way, kicking five second-half goals and leading his side for disposals with 32. Without their injured players and reduced to just a single rotation, the fatigued Lions put on some impressive runs to at times, shut the gap to within 40.
Kangaroos coach Brad Scott would have been marginally disappointed with his side’s inability to shut down the Lions, with the all-important percentage – while still improving – not going up quite as far as it maybe should have.
The Lions slump to one and ten from their first eleven games, while the Kangaroos continue their charge at the top four on the back of three straight wins.
North Melbourne take on Geelong in what should be a cracking contest away from home next week while Brisbane host Essendon at the Gabba.
Final score
Kangaroos 21.15 (141)
Lions 12.15 (87)
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