GEELONG CATS 15.22 (112) def BRISBANE LIONS 17.9 (111)
ON paper, it shouldn’t have been close.
Playing in an early game, the Brisbane Lions needed a win over the more fancied Geelong Cats at Simonds Stadium in order to keep their finals hope alive. And the visitors did everything they could to make it a contest because finishing agonisingly close as the Cats held off the Lions to win by just one point.
As time slowly ran out in the final quarter the deficit was trimmed to just two points after Brisbane’s Jordan Lisle booted through a goal and in the frantic finish played out in the shadow of their own goal posts, the Lions looked like were about to snatch an improbable victory with five seconds remaining when Ryan Lester snapped for goal.
But the kick missed the mark much to the relief of Geelong and their coach Chris Scott.
“Our game, like most other teams up near the top of the ladder, is in part based on taking the opposition’s game away from them and we didn’t do that well today,” said Scott afterwards.
“We’re not too disappointed. We’re certainly not ecstatic, we’re not going to lie to you, it would have been fantastic to play brilliantly well, but we’ve had a pretty good couple of weeks prior to this.
“And, as you can see, some teams’ preparations going into this round, there are some teams in the comp that have bigger fish to fry.”
Brisbane’s caretaker coach, Mark Harvey, would obviously have loved the win but has, nonetheless, done enough over the last few weeks to re-ignite his prospects to return to the ranks of seniors coaches in the near future.
“No-one gave us any hope – not that that matters – I just think you have seen a group of players fight so hard for an opportunity and sit back now and be puzzled about what could have been,” said Harvey.
“It’s been a difficult year in many ways for the club.
“The club’s doing everything it can to try to get things right. Obviously there are decisions to be made in the next month or two and that’s important that gets fast-tracked and solved.
“Then the group can move on have a clear a direction of what is required to become a club that regularly plays in finals.”
Here is the footage of the final two minutes of action:
And here are the full match highlights:
GEELONG 5.5 7.11 12.20 15.22 (112)
BRISBANE LIONS 3.3 9.5 11.6 17.9 (111)
GOALS
Geelong: Varcoe 2, Caddy 2, Chapman 2, Podsiadly, Johnson, Kelly, Hawkins, Bartel, Taylor, Christensen, Duncan, Selwood
Brisbane Lions: McGrath 6, Lisle 3, Lester 2, Zorko 2, Green 2, Bewick, Golby
BEST
Geelong: Bartel, Stokes, Johnson, Chapman, Taylor, Selwood
Brisbane Lions: Rockcliff, Redden, McGrath, Raines, Lisle
INJURIES
Geelong: Blivacs (concussion)
Brisbane Lions: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Geelong: Joel Corey replaced Steven Motlop in the third quarter
Brisbane Lions: Josh Green replaced Rohan Bewick at three-quarter time
Reports: Nil
Umpires: McBurney, Ryan, Kamolins (umpire Kamolins replaced at half-time due to injury)
Official crowd: 27,467 at Simonds Stadium