Key events
1st quarter, 1 minutes remaining: Brisbane 3.5.23 – Gold Coast 3.4.22
Squared up by Brisbane, as Morris drops a mark near goal. Ball up, Rayner gets the ball, weaves through traffic, but his shot at goal goes across the face. Free kick as Fiorini kicks at half back and is whacked across the chops in the process, paid downfield, and the short pass inside 50 finds Ainsworth. His shot from deep in the pocket, 45 out, misses to the near side.
1st quarter, 3 minutes remaining: Brisbane 3.4.22 – Gold Coast 3.3.21
Ty Gallop marks but misses his set shot, then another Lions point is bashed through, but Gold Coast rush to the other end in a good passage of play, Rowell and Anderson involved heavily, only to see the forward-pocket mark dropped in a good spot. Then Ben Long blows another chance after a slingshot play: doesn’t mark, has to grab the rebound, almost trips over his prone opponent, but inexplicably goes for a dribble kick along the ground from about 40 out instead of turning to face the goals and popping through a drop punt. The ball bounces the wrong way and it’s a point.
1st quarter, 8 minutes remaining: Brisbane 3.2.20 – Gold Coast 3.2.20
Scores level again. Mac Andrew did alright near the boundary line to handball into a tiny bit of space, but his teammate’s defensive fumble lets the Lions pounce on that ball, handball out, then square a pass to Berry to mark 20 metres out. Berry kicks it.
1st quarter, 10 minutes remaining: Brisbane 2.2.14 – Gold Coast 3.2.20
A couple of behinds rushed through at either end, but somehow out the back of that, Jeffrey gets an acre of space to stroll through the centre square, run about 40 metres, then weight the pass beautifully to Ben King’s advantage, over the back of the contest with King playing from behind. He marks standing tall, and goes back to kick the goal, which takes him past Tom Lynch with the most career goals for Gold Coast.
1st quarter, 12 minutes remaining: Brisbane 2.1.13 – Gold Coast 2.1.13
A miss at one end from Ben King, then a second scrappy goal for the Lions! Charlie Cameron a long way from home at half back kicks outrageously to the centre circle. It’s Rayner in the centre square who gets in the right spot and collects a rebound from a dropped mark. Raking pass forward, McInerney can’t mark but fingertips it down, Ah Chee running by kicks to his own advantage, then picks it up and tumbles through the snap. Scores level.
1st quarter, 15 minutes remaining: Brisbane 1.1.7 – Gold Coast 2.0.12
Haphazard in the forward line from Brisbane, but they’re on the board. Zorko’s pinpoint pass from half back into the centre sets it up, then follows up with the one-two. Kick inside 50 is spoiled, Cameron gets ironed out in the contest, the ball is knocked around via Ashcroft, little kick inboard isn’t marked on the full, Logan Morris gets the snap away as he’s tackled, but he gets enough purchase and it sails through.
1st quarter, 17 minutes remaining: Brisbane 0.1.1 – Gold Coast 2.0.12
Two in 20 seconds! That was hot in the centre square, Rowell throws himself at the ball as it’s in dispute, knocks it free to Davies, to Miller, who gets the ball to Anderson running by with quick hands, and Anderson nails the running goal from outside 50.
1st quarter, 17 minutes remaining: Brisbane 0.1.1 – Gold Coast 1.0.6
Brisbane go forward first, but punched through for a behind. Out of defence via Mac Andrew to a free kick for Witts on the wing, but Long drops the mark inside 50. Second time lucky for the Suns though, as the ball comes out of 50, goes long back inside, and Ben King takes the contested mark at full forward. Wobbly old set shot but he gets it through.
Now, let’s play…
And here is Martin Pegan’s preview to get you prepped.
Joe Hinchcliffe has written about the Queensland factor.
The Suns are wearing the pink clash strip tonight, which will please fans of a bit of razzle dazzle. We have a Welcome to Country, then the national anthem.
Teams
Brisbane
Full-back: Dayne Zorko, Darcy Gardiner, Ryan Lester
Half-back: Darcy Wilmot, Harris Andrews, Brandon Starcevich
Centre: Sam Marshall, Hugh McCluggage, Jarrod Berry
Half-forward: Charlie Cameron, Logan Morris, Zac Bailey
Full-forward: Oscar McInerney, Cam Rayner, Callum Ah Chee
Ruck: Darcy Fort, Josh Dunkley, Kai Lohmann
Bench: Jaspa Fletcher, Will Ashcroft, Levi Ashcroft, Ty Gallop
Gold Coast
Full-back: Wil Powell, Bodhi Uwland, Sam Collins
Half-back: John Noble, Mac Andrew, Daniel Rioli
Centre: Lachie Weller, Matt Rowell. Brayden Fiorini
Half-forward: Touk Miller, Ben Ainsworth, Bailey Humphrey
Full-forward: Ben Long, Ben King, Jy Farrar
Ruck: Jarrod Witts, Alex Davies, Noah Anderson
Bench: Sam Flanders, Ethan Read, Connor Budarick, Joel Jeffrey
As for the Lions, they’re in some strife. They got absolutely belted by Geelong last week: even after being given three gift goals by the umpires, they only mustered 74 points, and a stack of those came in the fourth quarter once the Cats had put the cue in the rack. After an arm wrestle until halfway through the second quarter, Brisbane got blitzed by three-quarter time. And in the process they lost their star Lachie Neale with a calf injury. It’ll be tough going.
That said, they’re the team that has been here before and will be less consumed by the emotion of it, where you could imagine Gold Coast players being so affected by the adrenaline of last week that they might struggle to refocus for week two. Perhaps. Their coach Damien Hardwick will have worked to squash the risk of that, given that he at least is somebody who has seen everything September has to offer, as a player and as Richmond coach.
Preamble
Are you ready to QUEENSLAND?! Yes, we always said that this state was the true home of Australian rules football, and tonight is the night that proves it. On reflection, it would actually be better if these clubs were on opposite sides of the draw so they could end up in the first all-Queensland grand final, but we’ll settle for a dual-knockout final to see who goes into the prelim final against Collingwood at the MCG.
Brisbane and Gold Coast matches have not, let’s be honest, had much riding on them for most of their history given that at least one and often both clubs have been down the wrong end of the ladder. But now the Lions are reigning premiers, and the Suns, after so many years of being belted around the league, are not only playing finals for the first time, but won their first ever knockout despite taking the lead with nine seconds to go.
It was fun. Tonight could be even more so. Let’s do it.
