IF 'AKER' gasped, then Eric Hipwood roared.
Jason Akermanis mastered the miraculous finish from the boundary. He crafted the shocked celebration. But even he might have had to cup his mouth one last time, given Hipwood's effort in Saturday's sun-soaked Grand Final.
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Brisbane's second-quarter performance, which set the foundations for its remarkable 60-point premiership victory, needed its cherry on top. Enter Eric. His unbelievable goal was evidence that everything that could go right for the Lions on Saturday afternoon, would go right.
Receiving the ball deep inside the forward pocket, Hipwood shimmied, stumbled, regathered his composure, stepped outside Sydney captain Dane Rampe, steadied, then slotted truly with a pinpoint drop punt.
The finish was fantastic. The fact it came while denied space on his inside, forcing the trajectory of a left-footed kick to float from virtually outside the point post before drifting back towards goal, made the shot all the more extraordinary.
"I slipped over, first of all," an elated Hipwood told AFL.com.au afterwards.
"It was a bit of a lucky one. It just ended up slicing through. When that went through I thought, 'It's our day.' I can't remember ever kicking one from there, especially like that."
But it only got better from Hipwood's perspective. Without a second thought, the big Lions forward turned to the jubilant Brisbane fans clad in maroon stationed in the MCC members' reserve behind him and covered his mouth with his hand. It was 'Aker' coded, an instantly iconic Brisbane moment.
It also continued what was a Lions procession, the fourth of six Brisbane goals in just 13 minutes throughout a second-quarter steamrolling that opened an insurmountable advantage for Chris Fagan's side by the main break.
The score was 36-1 in Brisbane's favour throughout that crazy 13-minute stretch that was capped by Hipwood's tremendous goal, taking what had been a somewhat slender 11-point Lions lead and turning it into a commanding 46-point half-time buffer.
From there, it was game over.
Kai Lohmann was the unsurprising assister of the herculean Hipwood effort. Following a first-half performance that yielded three goals for himself, the bright and bubbly Brisbane youngster was the man at the heart of the goal.
Receiving a dinked handball from Jaspa Fletcher, Lohmann turned his own marker in Sydney defender Ollie Florent, drawing across Rampe in the process, before dishing the footy to Hipwood for him to make his magic moment happen.
It was the showpiece moment of a Grand Final that turned into a party in the second half, as Brisbane righted the wrongs of last year's heartbreaking defeat to Collingwood to win the premiership for the first time since 2003.
But it was also the standout moment of a second quarter that will be remembered in Lions minds forever. Six savage goals, just reward for a devastating quarter-hour spell to overwhelm the Swans and take Fagan's side to glory.
There had already been Joe Daniher's set-shot by the time Hipwood saluted, as well as Callum Ah Chee's finish that had followed Daniher shoving Brodie Grundy from an otherwise even contest and hacking the ball forward.
Jarrod Berry profited from a Sydney turnover under pressure, before Hipwood's moment of magic, which was duly followed by another for Ah Chee and one more from young Logan Morris that well and truly finished the job.
The Lions couldn't have been anything other than premiers by half-time. They saw it through as well, rollicking to a 10-goal win. But of all 18 majors they kicked on Saturday afternoon, none will be remembered more than Hipwood's.
Celebration and all.
