THE Brisbane Lions have defied the odds and the football experts to record the upset of the season with a courageous 27-point win over West Coast at Subiaco Oval.
The Lions out-worked and out-ran the reigning premiers, pulling away in the second half to win 13.13 (91) to 9.10 (64).
Four goals each from to Jonathon Brown and Jared Brennan and three to Robert Copeland delivered the Lions their first win over the Eagles at Subiaco since round 11, 2001.
The Lions got off to roaring start with Simon Black running forward from the opening bounce to goal on the run with just 15 seconds on the clock.
Both sides went with their best runners in the centre square from the start with Black, Nigel Lappin and Jed Adcock squaring off against Chris Judd, Daniel Kerr and Chad Fletcher, but West Coast had the benefit of a dominant ruckman in Dean Cox.
With Jonathon Brown subdued early by a combination of Darren Glass and Brisbane’s poor delivery into the forward line, Brennan chipped in with the Lions’ second.
At the other end of the ground, the Brisbane defence had its hands full with a hard leading Chad Jones and Mark LeCras who sharked two first term goals.
The Eagles took a 10-point lead to the first break and a third goal to LeCras in the opening minute of the second term threatened to spark an Eagle onslaught.
Makeshift forward Copeland then steadied for the Lions before the visitors blew several opportunities to take the lead with a string of three points from set shots from Wayde Mills and Rhan Hooper.
The Eagles punished the misses with a goal to Andrew Embley before Copeland marked running with the flight of the ball and posted his second from the goal square.
A careless turnover by the Eagles’ defence presented Brown with his first mark inside 50 late in the quarter.
But Brown’s goal was again followed by a string of three behinds and the Eagles could consider themselves lucky to hold a slender seven-point lead at the long break.
The momentum swung decisively in the third quarter with the Lions breaking down West Coast’s running game.
The home side’s defence began to look tentative for the first time in the night and the Lions pounced with goals to Brown and the mercurial Brennan, stealing back the lead.
Finally the Lions’ kicking radar was switched on and a string of three unanswered majors to Notting, Brennan and Brown saw the Lions take an 11-point advantage into the final break as light rain began to fall.
The final quarter started as an ugly slug-fest before goals to Copeland and Brown signalled the Lions were on track for a huge boilover.
The Eagles took 17 minutes to record their first goal of the quarter through Mark Seaby before Brennan again stepped up for the Lions with his fourth to seal the unlikely victory.
The final siren was greeted with stunned silence from the home crowd and scenes of jubilation among the Lions as coach Leigh Matthews embraced his players.
Lappin, Black, Notting, Adcock, Roe, Drummond and Brennan were among the Lions’ best.
The win keeps Brisbane’s finals hopes alive and will give them momentum going into next week’s clash against Melbourne at the Gabba.
BRISBANE LIONS 2.1 5.7 10.9 13.13 (91)
WEST COAST 3.5 6.8 8.10 9.10 (64)
Goals
Brisbane: J Brown 4 J Brennan 4 R Copeland 3 S Black T Notting
West Coast: M Le Cras 4 D Kerr A Embley D Cox S Hurn M Seaby
Best
Brisbane: N Lappin J Drummond J Brennan R Copeland T Notting
West Coast: C Judd D Kerr D Cox M LeCras D Glass
Injuries: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: L Farmer B Allen S Meredith
Official crowd: 40,763 at Subiaco Oval, Perth
