GEELONG wasn't as ruthless as it could have been, but did enough to shore-up third spot with a 60-point win over the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Sunday.

The Cats looked like running up a cricket score when they led by 36 points at quarter-time, but relaxed in the second term and had to settle for a 19.15 (129) to 10.9 (69) victory.

Full match details and stats

Patrick Dangerfield (28 disposals) wore down Mitch Robinson's tag, and only a poor day in front of goal (2.4) stopped him from having a truly memorable day.

Playing just his fifth senior game, Sam Menegola was a standout, racking up 33 disposals, 15 of them contested, and now at his third club, looks to have found a midfield home.

Despite the routine victory, the Cats would rue their inability to truly put the Lions to the sword.

Entering the match they needed to make up seven percentage points on second-placed Adelaide to put themselves in the prime position for a week-one home final.

They looked like doing it early, but the second-quarter lapse – where the Lions kicked six goals - followed by some wastefulness both in front of goal and entering the forward 50, was costly.

But coach Chris Scott was not overly concerned, happy to take the points and return south.
 
"Unfortunately we just had a bad patch in the second quarter in this game, so there’s clearly still things to work on, but when you have a win away from home by that margin I don’t think we can be too picky," Scott said.
 
"I find it hard to speak to mindset and concentration and those sort of things, but there were some clear things we could see we weren’t doing (in the second quarter).
 
"It was pretty hard work out there, even though the final margin was pretty big.
 
"I think it was a good hit-out for our guys, we’d prefer it had have been a bit easier, had we defended better in that second quarter."

Scott lauds Cats' depth ahead of finals

Their inside 50 count (61-40) alone was enough to suggest a bigger victory was on offer.

Steven Motlop kicked a career-high five goals, while Tom Hawkins, Lincoln McCarthy and Lachie Henderson, playing as a forward, added two each.

Veterans Corey Enright, Joel Selwood, and Andrew Mackie were also solid contributors.

The tide completely changed in the second quarter when the Lions became more aggressive and hungry, led by teenage firebrand Rhys Mathieson.

Mathieson made it his personal mission to get under the skin of Cats skipper Selwood.

He niggled and niggled and eventually drew a free kick for high contact, went back and kicked the goal from 45m and celebrated right in Selwood's face.

The Geelong champion mocked his younger rival by imitating Mathieson's infamous 'gunshot' goal celebration before pushing him away.

I wont be reining Mathieson in, says Leppitsch

Lions coach Justin Leppitsch said all in all, it was a decent performance from his men.

"I thought our effort was pretty good today," he said.

"We were beaten for class and turnover again. Lacked a bit of run again in the second half.

"But the effort didn't wane, we came back and the guys had the energy, but you've got to have the courage to run and continue the game out and we couldn't do that.

"They're a good team, the best turnover team in the comp and we had a crack at them, just they did what they did well."

The home team was well served by skipper Tom Rockliff (27 touches), vice-captain Daniel Rich (24) and young defender Tom Cutler (25), but it was nowhere near enough.

Geelong kicked five goals to one in the third quarter and another five to two in the last and never looked troubled.

MEDICAL ROOM
Brisbane Lions: The only scare came during the second term when skipper Tom Rockliff came from the field with an apparent left shoulder injury. However, after being worked on for a few minutes, Rockliff was back out there and one of his team's best. Coach Justin Leppitsch said he didn't expect it to hinder him from playing next week.

Geelong: Not only did the Cats take the four premiership points, but they did so without injury. After being rested this week, Jimmy Bartel should return for round 23, giving Chris Scott some nice selection problems.

NEXT UP
Geelong will look to sew up its top four spot when they host Melbourne at Simonds Stadium next Saturday afternoon. After losing to Carlton, the Dees are now out of the finals race. The Lions will travel to Melbourne to wind up their horror season at Etihad Stadium next Sunday afternoon against St Kilda.

BRISBANE LIONS  1.3  7.4    8.5    10.9    (69)
GEELONG               7.3  9.7  14.11  19.15 (129)

GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Rich 2, Bell 2, Walker, Taylor, Cutler, Robinson, Mathieson, Rockliff
Geelong: Motlop 5, Dangerfield 2, Henderson 2, Hawkins 2, McCarthy 2, Blicavs, Duncan, Enright, Cowan, Kersten, Guthrie

BEST
Brisbane Lions: Rockliff, Cutler, Rich, Andrews, Mathieson, Martin
Geelong: Dangerfield, Menegola, Motlop, Enright, Guthrie, J.Selwood

INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: Nil
Geelong: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Hosking, Findlay, Wallace

Official crowd: 20,477 at the Gabba