In front of a roaring home crowd at the Gabba, Brisbane reignited their season with a commanding 43-point victory over the second-placed Sydney Swans.
The Lions made sure any comeback from the Swans was utterly smothered from the opening bounce, taking an 19.12 (126) to 12.11 (83) victory.
Brisbane found their feet against Sydney. Chris Hyde
The desperation was palpable as early as the second term, with the Swans growing visibly frustrated under Brisbane’s relentless pressure, the tension boiling over in a scuffle just before half-time.
Not only does Sydney lose out of four points, they now lose a crucial chance to knock off AFL ladder-leaders Fremantle.
Brisbane handed the Swans their third consecutive loss and sent warning shots to the rest of the competition that the reigning champions are back after their bye.
“We hit a bit of a patch a couple of weeks ago and last two weeks before the bye, we were able to resurrect a bit,” skipper Harris Andrews said.
“Good time for the bye to come and get a little bit fresher and a few bodies back, good to build from that. They play a very strong handball-style game, you got to be really tough…and they made it really hard.”
Despite the heavy defeat, Sydney’s Chad Warner provided the individual highlight of the night. Warner kicked the goal of the game before half-time, being able to race clear and speed down the middle to kick a goal from 40m out.
“Waner’s been best in ground, in a six goal loss,” said King on Fox Footy.
“He’s just in great form is Chad Warner, disappointed by their (Sydney’s) output but that guy could not have done any more.”
Brisbane now heads down to the Cattery to play Geelong next Thursday and Sydney plays the Western Bulldogs next Friday.