THE BRISBANE Lions played some of their best attacking football of the last two months at the Gabba on Saturday night, only to suffer a heartbreaking seven-point loss to a Daniel Motlop-powered Port Adelaide.
After trailing by 40 points, the Lions launched an astonishing last term comeback to draw level on the back of Jonathan Brown’s fourth goal with five minutes left to play.
But Port found an almost immediate reply at the other end, Brett Ebert marking strongly and benefiting from a 50m penalty to convert from point blank range – with the Power then clinging on to a 17.10 (112) to 15.15 (105) win in front of a crowd of 22, 214.
The final result was harsh on a Lions side that looked purposeful going forward, outscored the Power in the first and last quarters and broke even with their visitors in the third.
Ultimately, a second quarter in which the Power kicked the first seven goals, three of them from the boot of a red-hot Motlop, proved decisive.
While Motlop was finding the goals with uncanny accuracy at one end – one of his goals was an outrageous banana from 50m on the run – the Lions struggled to convert forward forays into scoreboard pressure and kicked their only two goals of the quarter in the last five minutes.
The second-term imbalance masked a first quarter in which the Lions were clearly the better side, with co-captain Luke Power returning from injury to cleverly set up goals for Tim Notting and Jamie Charman.
The Lions might well have led by more than seven points at quarter-time and certainly would have had David Rodan not added a second goal for the Power on the stroke of the siren.
The third quarter was an even affair, but the last term belonged solely to the Lions, who surged on the back of some inspired running from Nigel Lappin, Brown’s accuracy in front of goal and two impressive roosts from defender Josh Drummond.
When Drummond got forward to convert from 55m, then slotted again from 45m after sidestepping a Port opponent, the Lions were coming and an unlikely victory looked possible.
It looked distinctly probable in the wake of Notting’s clever snap and Brown’s goal to tie the scores after the big centre-half-forward won a free-kick with a strong tackle on Chad Cornes.
But it wasn’t to be and the Lions, agonisingly, remain without a win since Round six.
For the Lions, Lappin was an outstanding contributor with 36 polished possessions – 24 of them before half-time.
Power had 34 touches and used them impeccably, Drummond generated drive from the backline, Joel MacDonald was good in his second game back from a knee reconstruction and Daniel Merrett probably had the better of Warren Tredrea.
Motlop was the Port standout, finishing with 6.1 in an amazing individual display. The Burgoyne brothers weren’t far behind, combining for 59 disposals and giving Mark Williams’ side plenty of run.
PORT ADELAIDE 2.3 9.5 14.7 17.10 (112)
BRISBANE LIONS 3.4 5.10 8.15 15.15 (105)
Goals: Port Adelaide: D Motlop 6 J Westhoff 3 D Rodan 2 D Pearce S Burgoyne R Gray N Lonie C Cornes B Ebert. Brisbane Lions: J Brown 4 T Notting 3 J Brennan 2 J Charman 2 J Drummond 2 M Rischitelli C Begley.
Best: Port Adelaide: S Burgoyne J Westhoff D Motlop D Pearce P Burgoyne. Brisbane Lions: N Lappin J Brown J Drummond L Power.
Umpires: D Sully, M Head, D Goldspink.
Official crowd: 22,124 at the Gabba.
Injuries: Nil.
