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It’s getting ridiculous now.
That’s five times in their last eight games Brisbane have headed into the sheds at half time with a sizeable deficit to a fired-up opponent, and looking thoroughly outclassed.
And that’s five times in their last eight games the Lions have turned the tables in devastating fashion after the break, running over the top to storm away with victory – and make the aura of menace around the premiers glow all the stronger with every comeback win.
The Lions’ ten-goal turnaround to transform a 39-point deficit to the Western Bulldogs into a 21-point triumph isn’t the most spectacular of the lot – that honour goes to the stunning come-from-behind Houdini act on GWS in last year’s semi-final, that ended up winning them the premiership.
But it is, by sheer weight of numbers, the biggest, most devastating comeback of the lot.
It’s a form line that begs two questions: one, what the hell are they doing to pull it off time and time again? And two, is it sustainable – and if so, for how long?
Let’s answer question one first – because it’s the easiest one to solve. Why? Because the Lions didn’t do a whole lot differently, structurally or tactically, from first half to second: they just, plain and simple, started playing a whole lot better.
The Bulldogs ripped the game open in the second term with seven goals to one off the back of complete clearance domination: they had five extra clearances and 13 more contested possessions in the term to drive the ball into attack again and again.
Inside 50, Sam Darcy had a dual purpose: do his usual shtick of marking everything that comes near him, while also occupying Harris Andrews in the event the ball went somewhere else. It was notable that, while Andrews clunked a swathe of marks in the half, they were opposed to James O’Donnell and Aaron Naughton when they happened, and never Darcy, who comfortably won their head-to-head duel and in doing so made life all the tougher for a Lions defence that needs Andrews’ aerial prowess to thrive.
Under fierce pressure from both the Bulldogs and, increasingly, the scoreboard, the Lions’ ball movement ground to a halt. Not only did they manage just one inside 50 directly from a rebound 50 for the term – the source of two of their three first-quarter goals – but they turned four of them over that led directly to Bulldogs goals coming back over their heads.
Add to that the Dogs nailing virtually every half chance, and the reigning premiers were being comprehensively outplayed.
To say the match flipped on its head after half time doesn’t quite to justice to the magnitude of the table-turning that went on at Norwood Oval – it’s more like the match did a full 540 spin, a barrel roll for good measure, and finished by wobbling straight into the Lions’ jaws.
The Dogs’ domination at stoppages? Kaput. From the third quarter on, the Lions won the clearance count by 10, particularly dominant at boundary throw-ins, and the contested possessions by 16.
With that, the Lions’ entire gamestyle was wrenched back on track: their modus operandi of win the ball, move it quickly, and give their lethal forward line enough isolated looks to dominate saw them pile on 14 goals to five.
Eric Hipwood, held to one touch to half time, was in everything: crashing packs, taking high marks, sprinting away on the lead to mark on the chest, and kicking goal after goal after goal after goal.
But it wasn’t like someone had flicked a switch on the back of his guernsey or anything – the Lions were just giving him better looks up front. The same went for Callum Ah Chee, Zac Bailey, virtually any Lions forward apart from Logan Morris, who was good all day: move it quickly, whether from clearance or half-back, keep your forwards maintaining space to allow as many isolated one-on-ones as possible, and watch the Dogs’ defence implode.
Where in the first half, Liam Jones would have had someone coming across in front, Rory Lobb most likely, to get a fist on the ball, here he finds himself one out against Cam Rayner with an open 50 to work with, misjudges the fall of the ball, and can’t stop him bringing the footy down.
Dayne Zorko, barely sighted in the first half, was suddenly involved in everything from half-back, targeting the corridor with precision to kick-start Lions attacking chains with deadly accuracy.
From half time until Morris put them in front in the final term, the Lions had 11 defensive 50 disposal chains: where their 10 in the second term had yielded one inside 50, this batch resulted in four, and most damaging of all, three goals.
The Dogs simply couldn’t cope, and whenever the Lions did squander an opportunity, they’d hem them into their defensive 50, refuse to give up a simple outlet kick or lose a contest further afield, and barge the ball back in again. A pressure rating of 207 for the third quarter gives testament to how ruthless they were.
The result was, barring a five-minute stretch in the fourth term when the Lions took the foot off the pedal and the Dogs pounced with consecutive goals, an utter pummelling.
This isn’t the case of a team or a coach flipping the magnets or unlocking a weakness in the opposition – this is a side that laid idle for a full half of footy, yawned, had a coffee, and then went absolutely ballistic.
The positive is that Brisbane, at the moment, only need to play half a game to beat just about everyone else – and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a big final or a random home-and-away match in the Adelaide suburbs.
The negative comes back to question two: is it sustainable? Because all sporting logic would suggest that no, it surely is not.
The obvious glass half full is that the Lions are 5-0 to start their premiership defence, remain clearly the team to beat, and still, on face value, have another gear to go to. If they’re this good for only a half, imagine when they put a full four quarters together? Actually, we don’t have to imagine that – Sydney copped it right between the eyes in the grand final.
The glass half empty is this: it’s working an absolute treat now, but they can’t keep up this trend of second-half charges forever. Some day they’re going to give an opposition too much of a head start, or a team will work out how to clamp their dominant runs and wait for a lull to pounce, or they’ll suffer injuries to weary the legs of those remaining in the final quarter.
Cam Rayner celebrates a goal. (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Or, plain and simple, someone will work out how to stop them, and then everyone will be doing the same thing.
You know who Brisbane at the moment remind me of? Sydney in mid-2024. Having established themselves as flag frontrunners in the first three months of the year, the Swans went through a stretch where they’d blow teams apart with 30 minutes of scintillating footy, and coast on either side of it.
A five-goal-to-one third quarter put the Bulldogs away in Round 11; two weeks later, Geelong were six goals to zilch up on them halfway through the second term, saw the Swans put on five goals in nine minutes to swallow it up, and then put on six goals to one to get out to 29 points up early in the final term.
The best example came a week later, when Adelaide led them by 16 points at the 16-minute mark of the third quarter… and 14 minutes and six goals later, trailed by 21.
It was terrifying, and led to everyone believing that the Swans were nigh on unbeatable and that they could only get better from there.
But what happened for the rest of their season? Teams started riding out their run-ons and hurting them when they slumped.
It began with thrilling losses – three in four games by under a goal to Fremantle, St Kilda and then the Lions themselves. In each of those games, they had a spurt of devastating football to wrench themselves back into the contest – but it wasn’t enough.
It ended with capitulation – belted by 112 points by Port Adelaide, getting out of jail against GWS in the qualifying final, and most infamously of all, a grand final humiliation. Without a surge in two of those games – or more accurately, with them shot to ribbons before they could find the accelerator – they were lambs to the slaughter.
Those periods of dominance weren’t a portent of something more destructive to come – they were a paper shield against an underlying vulnerability that, eventually, came to the surface.
Brisbane are by no means immune to the same fate. No doubt Chris Fagan will know it, and if his players are smart they will be far more concerned than any 5-0, top-of-the-table team should expect to be.
The Lions are as dangerous a second-half juggernaut as we’ve ever seen. But every slow start brings them closer and closer to a downfall – and they only need to look back 12 months to know just how quickly a superb team can self-destruct.
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