The Brisbane Lions have done some extraordinary things this year, but this was downright crazy.

They walked off the Gabba at halftime on Sunday evening against the Western Bulldogs third on the AFL ladder, and emerged from the locker room 20 minutes later in second spot.

Was it the magical words of coach Chris Fagan? An extra-powerful Gatorade? A super-charged halftime massage? Or maybe an extra handful of lollies?

The answer, of course, is none of the above.

It was simply that while the Lions and the Dogs re-charged at halftime at the Gabba, Carlton kicked the last two goals of their game against West Coast at Marvel Stadium to shave a full 1% off the Eagles’ percentage.

The Eagles’ percentage dropped from 118.28 to 117.28 while the Lions were stationery at 117.96.

It swung again when the Dogs outscored the Lions 6-2 to 4-2 in the third quarter for the home team percentage to dip to 116.68, and despite winning the final term 3-5 to 3-4 they finished the round at 116.50.

This meant with three rounds to play and Geelong, Brisbane and West Coast level on 14 wins the Lions are third on the ladder. It’s Geelong with a percentage of 130.49 from West Coast 117.28 and Brisbane 116.50.

Two more Brisbane goals on Sunday would have seen them ahead of West Coast.

And while all this doesn’t matter now, the message is clear …. It will be more than critical heading into week one of the finals when the team that finishes second will host the team that finishes third.

One straight kick could mean the difference between playing the qualifying final in Brisbane or Perth.

Five or 10 straight kicks could mean even more. Like it did when Port Adelaide beat Essendon by 59 points on Saturday. The Port percentage jumped by 4.0% and the Essendon percentage fell by 4.2%. Similarly, Geelong’s 34-point loss to Fremantle cost them 5.2%.

While coach Fagan will continue to stress ‘one week at a time’ as the Lions prepare to finish the home-and-away season against Gold Coast and Geelong at the Gabba in the next fortnight before Richmond at the MCG in Round 23, it is impossible to think that the percentage issue won’t draw an occasional glance.

The Lions’ 18-point win over the Dogs was their seventh in a row since the mid-season bye, and gives this emerging young side the equal third-longest winning streak in club history.

It matches the seven-game winning streak in 1996, a 10-game streak in 1999, and the all-conquering 20-game streak that began in Round 10 2001, took in the first premiership in the same season, and extended to Round 4 2002.

The 20-game winning streak is equal second-longest in AFL history.

It was the Lions’ first win over the Bulldogs since 2015 after five losses in a row, and Fagan’s first win over Luke Beveridge, and the first career win over the Dogs for 10 players – Rising Star nomination winner Noah Answerth, Zac Bailey, Jarrod Berry, Eric Hipwood, Jarryd Lyons, Hugh McCluggage, Oscar McInerney, Cam Rayner and Alex Witherden, plus ex-Dog Marcus Adams, who was playing against his former club for the first time.

The Lions’ one-point ‘win’ in the final term also shot them to the top of the list of fourth quarter wins this season. They have 12 to sit one ahead of West Coast and GWS, and two up on Geelong, Collingwood, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Carlton.

The Lions ranks six in first quarter wins with 10, behind Richmond at 14, and are fourth in second quarter wins with 11, behind, surprisingly, St.Kilda at 13. And the Lions are second in third quarter wins with 13, one behind Geelong.

In total quarters won, it is Geelong (48) from Brisbane (46), Richmond (46), GWS (42), West Coast (41), Port Adelaide (38), Collingwood (37), Adelaide (37) and Sydney (37).

The Lions are equal on premiership points at the top of the ladder for the first time since Round 4 2010, when they started the season 4-0 and shared top spot with St.Kilda.

Mathematically, 11 of 18 teams are still a chance to play in the finals if Hawthorn, North Melbourne and St.Kilda, each with an 8-11 record and facing a near mission impossible, are excluded.

The all-important draw for the last three round for the top 11 sides is:-

Geelong  (56 – 130.5 – NM (KP), Bris (Gabba), Carl (KP)
West Coast (52 – 117.3) – Adel ((Perth), Rich (MCG), Haw (Perth)
Brisbane (56 – 116.5) – GC (Gabba), Geelong (Gabba), Richmond (MCG)
Richmond (52 – 111.3) – Carl (MCG), WC (MCG), Bris (MCG)
GWS (48 – 121.5) -  Haw (Canberra), W/B (GS) ,GC (Carrara)
Collingwood (48 – 113.2) -  Melb (MCG), Adel (AO), Ess (MCG)
Essendon (44 – 100.1 -  W/B (Marvel), Frem (Perth), Coll (MCG)
Adelaide (40 – 108.7 –  WC (Perth), Coll (AO), W/B (Ballarat)
W/Bulldogs (36– 95.8) – Ess (Marvel), GWS (GS), Adel (Ballarat)
Port Adelaide (36 – 106.1) – Syd (AO), NM (Marvel), Frem (AO).
Fremantle (36 – 95.8) – StK (Marvel), Ess (Perth), Port (AO).

Code: KP = Kardinia Park (Geelong), GS – Giants Stadium (Sydney), AO = Adelaide Oval.