The Brisbane Lions Reserves are the 2012 NEAFL overall champions, after they took out the cross-conference Grand Final by 69 points over Queanbeyan at Manuka Oval on Saturday.
Brisbane emulated last year’s winners NT Thunder; winning the northern conference flag and backing up with victory over their eastern conference counterparts less than a week later.
The 22.12.144 to 11.9.75 victory was set up by eight goals from full-forward Jordan Lisle, a dominant midfield display from the likes of Amon Buchanan, James Hawksley, and Cheynee Stiller, and a lion-hearted effort from ruckman Sam Michael.
18-year-old rookie Michael capped off his brilliant finish to the year with the Andrew Ireland Medal as best afield; on a day when he rucked tirelessly, marked strongly and crashed into packs with gusto.
Buchanan, who’s now retired from the Lions after a decorated AFL career, can’t have been far behind in the best-on-ground voting, while defensive lynchpin Justin Clarke was also outstanding; completely blanketing one of the competition’s premier marksmen James Kavanagh.
In unseasonably warm Canberra conditions, in front of a crowd of 500-including a vocal sprinkling of Lions fans, the home team started the better; kicking the opening two goals of the game and outplaying the Lions for the first ten minutes.
But as they did in last week’s northern conference decider against NT, Brisbane kicked into gear after a slow start; booting five goals in the back end of the quarter to lead by eight points at quarter time.
Lisle threatened to blow the game wide open when play resumed after the first break; slotting three goals in as many minutes to take his tally to five.
After that explosive start though the former Hawk didn’t trouble the scorers again in the second quarter, as Cal Bartlett stamped himself on the contest with a brace of second quarter six-pointers, including a freakish checkside banana from the boundary line.
Buchanan was also integral to the Lions carrying a 32-point buffer into the main break; gathering a host of centre clearances and delivering the Sherrin inside 50 with precision.
Hawklsey was everywhere in the ’premiership quarter’; tallying a heap of touches, plucking a couple of strong marks, and kicking two goals, to springboard his team to a 38 point three-quarter-time lead and effectively kill off the match as a contest.
The final quarter was a procession, the visitors kicking eight goals to one-including Lisle’s eighth and Bartlett’s third, to blow the final margin out the eventual 69 points and ensure the two-and-half hour flight home will be an enjoyable one for the Brisbane boys.
FINAL SCORE
Brisbane Lions 5.3 11.5 15.9 22.12 (144)
Queanbeyan 4.1 6.3 9.7 11.9 (75)
LIONS GOALS
Lisle 8, Bartlett 3, S. Clarke 2, Fuller 2, Gambale 2, J.Clarke, Fox, Michael, Hawksley, Stiller
LIONS BEST
Michael, Lisle, Buchanan, Stiller, McKeever, J. Clarke
