THE Kangaroos’ five-gamewinning streak came to a halt at the Gabba on Saturday night as they suffered a37-point loss to the Brisbane Lions.
In a tight, hard fought,and often scrappy contest, the Lions jumped out to a 22-point quarter-time leadbefore slowly extending to eventually run out 10.17 (77) to 5.10 (40) winnersin front of 29,233 fans.
Despite not being at itsbest, the Kangaroos showed all the fight that has propelled them to secondplace on the AFL ladder before the round began.
The Roos’ midfield hadplenty of the ball, led by Adam Simpson (35 touches), Brady Rawlings, DanielHarris and Jesse Smith, but the delivery forward often let the visitors down.
The forwards had a toughnight at the office, with last week’s seven-goal hero Corey Jones strugglingfor possessions against the tight checking Joel Macdonald, while Aaron Edwards(one goal), Scott McMahon (one) and David Hale also had a tough time.
At the other end of theground Michael Firrito had the arduous task of minding Jonathan Brown for theentire evening, and the Brisbanepowerhouse proved the difference between the sides, kicking six goals.
Rawlings battled hard,having the better of his duel with Simon Black in the first half, before beingmoved to a rampant Nigel Lappin after the break.
At three quarter-time Brisbane led by 25 pointsand the Roos could make no inroads as Jared Brennan and Brown put the matchbeyond doubt with the first two goals of the term.
Daniel Wells added theRoos’ fifth goal to make the score a little closer but it was too little, toolate, as Brown rounded out the night with his sixth major.
The Kangaroos were dealta blow before the first bounce when Glenn Archer was replaced in the startingside by Leigh Brown.
Things got no better inthe first quarter as the Roos struggled to penetrate the Lions’ defence.
Goals by Wayde Mills,Brown and Macdonald pumped the home team out to a 3.5 (23) to 0.1 (1)quarter-time lead.
It took the visitors 20minutes to get on the board when Drew Petrie marked on the run but missed onthe near side from a tight angle in the left forward pocket.
The Roos hit back earlyin the second though with goals to Edwards and Shannon Grant inside the firstthree minutes.
Edwards took a strongpack mark and goaled from 15m, while Grant took a grab over the top of hisopponent Matt Moody for the same result.
The second term waspunctuated by a number of turnovers from both teams before Brown steadied theLions’ ship with two late goals to establish a 22-point half-time lead.
He had kicked 3.4 by themajor break.
The lead eased its way to25 points by the final change as the teams each kicked two goals in the thirdterm.
It took until the 15-minutemark to get the scoring going again when Mills goaled for the Lions, which wascountered just 60 seconds later when Ed Sansbury was on the end of a neat passfrom Harvey to goal from 45m.
Brown kicked his fourthgoal as the Lions again extended the lead to 30, but McMahon’s strong hands andgoal late in the term kept the Kangaroos in the contest, trailing 7.14 (56) to4.7 (31).
The Lions’ forwardssealed the contest early in the final term, and the loss may prove costly interms of a top-four finish.
BRISBANELIONS 3.5 5.10 7.14 10.17 (77)
KANGAROOS 0.1 2.6 4.7 5.10 (40)
Goals
Brisbane: J Brown 6, W Mills 2, J Macdonald, JBrennan
Kangaroos: A Edwards, S Grant, E Sansbury, S McMahon,D Wells
Best
Brisbane: JCharman, W Mills, J Adcock, J Brown, J Brennan
Kangaroos: B Harvey, D Wells, B Rawlings, K Green
Injuries
Brisbane: JDrummond (knee) replaced in selected side by M Moody, T Selwood (shoulder) AMcGrath (wrist)
Kangaroos: G Archer (flu) replaced in selected side by L Brown
Reports
Nil
Umpires: B Allen, S Wenn,D Woodcock
Official Crowd: 29,233 at the Gabba
