THE BRISBANE Lions have taken another step towards qualifying for the finals for the first time in four years, returning to winning form with a 46-point victory over West Coast at the Gabba on Saturday night.

After falling to upset victories against Melbourne and Essendon at their last two outings, the Lions needed a win against the Eagles to stay in the top eight.

A 17.11 (113) to 9.13 (46) victory in front of a crowd of 27,784 will have satisfied coach Leigh Matthews, especially a last quarter in which the Lions were able to rebound from a third-quarter hiccup and outscore West Coast to ensure a percentage-boosting result.

The Lions had earlier skipped out to a nine-goal lead by the 11th minute of the third quarter, at which point the home side had booted the last eight goals and the Eagles had been goalless for the best part of 30 minutes.

But the Lions’ surge dissipated and West Coast was able to kick three consecutive goals to three-quarter time, two of them coming from an increasingly prominent Ashley Hansen. Hansen’s efforts helped ensure some semblance of scoreboard respectability for the Eagles, with the deficit reduced to 33 points at the final change.

If Matthews were to look at other positives from his team’s ninth win of the year, he would probably highlight the second half of the second quarter, in which the Lions dominated both the scoreboard and the flow of play.

Ruckman Jamie Charman was the unlikely ground-level hero, snapping a pair of goals – one after taking clean possession of a boundary throw-in – and helping set up another major for Daniel Bradshaw.

Brown and Bradshaw also kicked goals in the second-quarter burst, which came after West Coast had kicked two of the term’s first three goals to draw within seven points.

The Eagles, who trailed by 13 points at quarter-time, had earlier kicked three first-quarter goals stemming from free kicks.

Charman engaged in an absorbing duel throughout the night with Eagles counterpart Dean Cox. Cox was prolific with a game-high 36 possessions won all around the ground but Charman energised the Lions at times and kicked three important goals when thrown forward.

As usual, Simon Black (27 disposals) and Luke Power (31) saw plenty of the football, Josh Drummond supplied great drive and creativity from half-back and Bradd Dalziell made an eye-catching debut with a Lions-best 32 touches.

Dalziell, much like fellow youngster Tom Collier earlier in the year, showed a great willingness to attack the football and looks a real player of the future.

For the Eagles, there was a decided lack of consistent contributors, with Cox by far and away their best. Andrew Embley had 34 possessions floating mainly across half-back, Brent Staker tried hard in a new role in the midfield and youngsters Jamie McNamara and Eric Mackenzie both slowed flashes of potential.

The Lions had eight goal-kickers overall and five multiple goal-kickers, led by Bradshaw with a haul of four. The two-time club goal-kicking champion now has 55 for the season, one ahead of Brown.

Brisbane Lions  5.4        11.5      14.7      17.11 (113)
West Coast       3.3        5.6        8.10      9.13 (67)

GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Bradshaw 4, Brown 3, Charman 3, Johnstone 2, Corrie 2, Clark, McGrath, Drummond
West Coast: Hansen 2, Lynch 2, LeCras 2, McNamara, McKinley, Wirrpanda

BEST
Brisbane Lions: Power, Black, Dalziell, Drummond, Bradshaw
West Coast: Cox, Embley, Staker, Fletcher, Mackenzie

INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: nil
West Coast: Glass (quad)

Reports: nil

Umpires: Nicholls, Ellis, Mollison

Crowd: 27,784 at the Gabba

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.