The Brisbane Lions dominated from the opening bounce right until the final siren as they recorded a resounding 93-point victory against the GWS Giants on Saturday afternoon at Spotless Stadium.

The Lions could have easily cracked the ton if they were more accurate in front of goal, with the final score line reading 19.19 (133) to 6.4 (40) in favour to the Lions.

Lions coach Mitch Hahn described the victory as a “strong four quarter performance.”

“We had an expectation coming into the game of wanting to win contested footy…and we were able to achieve that so I am really proud of the group for putting four quarters together,” he told neafl.com.au.

It was a horror day for the depleted Giants as they were kept goalless in the third quarter and at times looked powerless to stop the Lions onslaught.

The Lions controlled all facets of the game and this was made even more evident when looking at the stats. The Lions were plus 204 in disposals (456-252), plus 102 in marks (156-54), plus 17 in tackles (59-42) and plus 27 for inside 50s (66-41).

The Lions superb kicking was on full display early as they started to open up the Giants in the first quarter.

The Lions first three goals were all off the back of players being front-and-centre of the contest and strolled into the goal square.

The Lions asserted their dominance in the second quarter, but an inaccurate quarter in which they kicked 4.7 meant that they would only have a 30-point lead at the main break.

The kicking from the Giants was poor all day and at times deplorable as often kicks failed to hit their targets or went straight to a Lions player.

The Giants poor kicking reared its ugly head in the third quarter as the Lions started to capitalise on the turnovers.

Brisbane’s defence were instrumental in the thumping win as they kept the Giants scoreless for 47 minutes between the second and fourth quarter.

The drought was finally broken after Brent Daniels kicked the lone goal for the GIANTS in the second half, 12 minutes into the fourth.

The Lions then kicked six goals-to-one in the final quarter to secure the commanding victory with the goals shared equally among the Lions players.

It was difficult to judge which Lions players were best afield in the contest as all players were excellent. 11 of the 22 players for the Lions had over 20 disposals and there were 11 individual goal kickers.

Rohan Bewick was arguably the best for Brisbane with 35 touches, 15 marks, eight inside 50s, three tackles and two goals. Followed closely by Claye Beams who had 33 disposals, five inside 50s, five tackles and two goals as well.

It was a lot more difficult to determine the GIANTS best on ground, with a lot of players who were well below their best. GIANTS midfielder Aiden Bonar was a rare highlight on Saturday with 23 possessions, six tackles, four clearances and a goal.

Despite the high score, Hahn was quick to praise the efforts of his backmen, in particular Matt Eagles and Jack Frost who shared 17 marks between them with several of them being intercept marks.

“Eagles had a fantastic game last week and he just built on that and he accompanied Jack Frost really well who is improving his game each week as well,” he said.

The Lions win did come at a cost, with defender Liam Dawson going down in the second quarter with concussion in a marking contest.

“It’s not ideal but the main thing is that he’s OK and we’ll make sure he’s ready for the next week,” Hahn said.

The Lions will go into the bye next week and will hope to rest up as much possible before they face the Gold Coast Suns the following week whereas the GIANTS will look to bounce back next week as they travel to play Southport.

GWS Giants v Brisbane Lions at Spotless Stadium

BRISBANE 5.2 9.9 13.13 19.19 (133)
GWS GIANTS 2.2 5.3 5.3 6.4 (40) 

GOALS – Brisbane: R Bastinac 4 J Barrett 2 C Beams 2 R Bewick 2 J Kennealy 2 B Sloan 2 C Ballenden  T Bell  D Fleming  R Mathieson. GIANTS: D Addison A Bonar D Buckley B Daniels J Buckley J Buchanan.
BEST – Brisbane: M Eagles R Bewick R Bastinac R Mathieson A Smith B Sloan. GIANTS: T Mohr L Keeffe D Addison M Buntine A Bonar D Buckley.