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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Craig Little

Brisbane stun Geelong in a thriller to return to AFL grand final – as it happened

AFL Cats Lions Brisbane Lions Geelong Cats Geelong Brisbane (Geopolitical Entity) MCG
Kai Lohmann marks the ball during the AFL Preliminary Final match between Geelong Cats and Brisbane Lions
Geelong Cats host Brisbane Lions in a 2024 AFL preliminary final at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. Follow for live updates and scores. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Well, that’s about it from me as I light a candle to the Football Gods, for providing an absorbing game that did all of the heavy-lifting content-wise.

And for a truly national game, it’s great to see a team from Sydney up against a team from Brisbane.

Commiserations to Geelong… but Geelong being Geelong, we’ll no doubt see them back on this stage for another crack at it soon enough.

Keep an eye on The Guardian throughout the week as we build up to the denouement of a season I have previously described as non compos mentis.

But for now, here is Jack Snape’s report on the Lions’ 10-point triumph over the Cats:

Updated

Oscar McInerney has headed to the Epworth for scans on his shoulder. He and the club will be doing everything they can to get him fit for next Saturday.

It brings back some great memories for this time of year, with the sports pages featuring footballers in hyperbaric chambers, and helicopters flying over club training as players take 11th-hour fitness tests.

All part of football’s Advent Calendar.

But before then, we have a Brownlow Medal Count on Monday night that might contain as much drama as this evening’s game.

Aside from some moderate criticism from this blog early in the game, credit must go to the umpires who did a great job all night – and I say this with no disrespect – by going largely unnoticed and showed a great feel for the occasion.

News just in from the entertainment desk: Katy Perry has added ‘Roar’ to her set list for next week’s pre-game Grand Final entertainment.

It’s hard to imagine that this time a week ago, Brisbane was seven-goals down against the GWS Giants… and now they’re into a Grand Final – a Grand Final will be the first in 18 years that has not featured a Victorian team, after a run of three Grand Finals in 2004-2006.

Full-time: Brisbane 14.11.95 def Geelong 12.13.85

Finals footy, hey…?

Brisbane will meet Sydney in the Grand Final below the Barassi Line at the MCG (or for those lamenting the lack of a Victorian presence, squint and imagine it’s South Melbourne v Fitzroy).

Both sides will be seeking redemption having both been on the losing side of Grand Finals in the past two years.

Tonight, though, was an absolute belter of a game that had just about everything.

Cam Rayner had been relatively quiet for a good part of that game, but great players know when to take their moments, and Rayner took his (moments after it was Ollie Henry who appeared to own ‘the moment’).

Brisbane looks like they may need to find a replacement for McInerney, but you suspect Joe Daniher might be able to take a fair bit of the load after the Lions’ small forwards showed just how damaging they can be.

And, besides, the Lions have been nothing if not resilient this season.

Updated

Q4: 1 minute remaining: Geelong 12.13.85 - Brisbane 14.11.95

And now Jack Payne with his moment, laying a great tackle.

But Geelong gets the ball back in and Rhys Stanley…

…

…

HITS THE POST!

Q4: 1 minute remaining: Geelong 12.12.84 - Brisbane 14.11.95

Cameron Rayner meets the moment with an outstanding goal from just outside fifty.

That might just about be it…

Q4: 2 minutes remaining: Geelong 12.12.84 - Brisbane 13.11.89

CALLUM AH CHEE! (yes this game has gone into caps-lock mode).

Brisbane back in front.

INCREDIBLE.

Updated

Q4: 3 minutes remaining: Geelong 12.12.84 - Brisbane 12.11.83

Two minutes. Five points. One helluva tackle Tom Stewart.

Ollie Henry kicks his fourth with a clever snap and we have a…

ONE POINT GAME!

Updated

Q4: 5 minutes remaining: Geelong 11.12.78 - Brisbane 12.11.83

Jeremy Cameron can’t get the bounce he and the Cats wanted, but they pull the margin back to less than a kick.

This is gonna be some five minutes.

Q4: 6 minutes remaining: Geelong 11.11.77 - Brisbane 12.11.83

Kai Lohmaan, straight out of Home & Away central casting takes a hanger, but fails to convert. Brisbane by 12-points

The ball finds its way down the other end just seconds later and Ollie Henry doesn’t miss his opportunity to pull the margin back to a single kick.

Updated

Q4: 10 minutes remaining: Geelong 10.10.70 - Brisbane 12.10.82

Make that seven of the last eight as Logan Morris puts the Lions two-goals up.

All the momentum now with the Lions, who are aiming to beat Geelong south of the border for the first time in 20 years.

Updated

Q4: 11 minutes remaining: Geelong 10.10.70 - Brisbane 11.10.76

Callum Ah Chee puts the Lions a goal in front as he kicks truly after a great transition from half-back.

Six of the last seven now for Brisbane.

Q4: 14 minutes remaining: Geelong 10.10.70 - Brisbane 10.10.70

And we’re all square here!

The ball is living largely between the arcs as the tension continues to build. This is shaping as another classic Preliminary Final.

Updated

Q4: 19 mins remaining: Geelong 10.9.69 - Brisbane 10.10.70

MANNAGH FROM HEAVE… he hits the post for the Cats, and it’s a point the difference.

Updated

3QT: Geelong 10.8.68 - Brisbane 10.10.70

Twenty-five-points down and their ruckman going to the rooms, it nearly all seemed lost for Brisbane.

But the Lions’ defence stiffened and their ball movement found some rhythm amidst the chaos to turn at the last change two minutes in front.

In one of the more unpredictable seasons in living memory, you would suspect this game has a twist or two left in the tail.

Updated

Q3: 1 min remaining: Geelong 10.8.68 - Brisbane 10.10.70

As so often has been the case this year, a team reverses momentum through playing with more dare.

A snap to Cam Rayner puts Brisbane two points in front, but the Lions are now playing the game on their terms.

Updated

Q3: 4 mins remaining: Geelong 10.8.68 - Brisbane 10.8.68

… and we are all square. An incredible game befitting two terrific teams.

Updated

Q3: 5 mins remaining: Geelong 10.8.68 - Brisbane 10.7.67

Cam Rayner is looming large as he sets up a Brisbane goal to Zac Bailey to bring the margin back to a point.

This has been an incredible response from the Lions.

H E C T I C !

Updated

Q3: 7 mins remaining: Geelong 10.8.68 - Brisbane 9.7.61

Cam Rayner finds himself at the end of a great transition from Brisbane and we’re back to eight points.

And then another goal (?) to Callum Ah Chee as this game continues to find another level… before the decision is overruled on replay… seven points the difference.

Meanwhile, Max Holmes is receiving treatment on his hamstring on the boundary. Surely he couldn’t be the heartbreak story of another Grand Final?

Updated

Q3: 10 mins remaining: Geelong 10.8.68 - Brisbane 8.6.54

Mark Biclavs gets the important response for Geelong as he snaps truly. Back out to two-goals-and-change.

Updated

Q3: 12 mins remaining: Geelong 9.8.62 - Brisbane 8.6.54

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three in a row for Brisbane as Kai Lohmann kicks truly.

Momentum now with the banged-up Lions.

Updated

Q3: 14 mins remaining: Geelong 9.8.62 - Brisbane 7.6.48

Charlie Cameron converts from a set shot to kick his second and back-to-back goals for Brisbane.

That play started with what may turn out to be the most discussed incident of the weekend with a dangerous tackle on Hugh McCluggage from Patrick Dangerfield.

The night’s other talking point, Oscar McInerney, is off the ground once again and may not be seen for the rest of the evening.

Updated

Q3: 16 mins remaining: Geelong 9.7.61 - Brisbane 6.6.42

A costly turnover from Dane Zorko gifts Max Holmes the intercept and a goal to Patrick Dangerfield in his 28th (!).

Callum Ah Chee ends a run of four consecutive Geelong goals a minute later to tie it back up at 19-points.

Updated

Goals like this help, also…

HT: Geelong 8.7.55 - Brisbane 5.6.36

A seven-goal-to-two quarter sees the Cats out to a 19-point lead.

Geelong’s contested football has been a feature of the first half. So far tonight, 59% of their possessions have been contested. The season average for the competition is less than 40%.

Far from scrappy, though, the Cats have been efficient once the ball gets into their forward line. In the second quarter they kicked a goal every second time the ball went into their foreard line – seven goals from 14 entries. This has been largely due to the space that the small Geelong forwards have been able to find out the back.

Plenty of work for Brisbane’s coaching staff during the long break.

Updated

Raining again at the MCG as Brisbane tries to halt Geelong’s momentum, with Charlie Cameron deep in defense. McInerney has played out the quarter but appears to be struggling with his shoulder tightly strapped.

Q2: 5 mins remaining: Geelong 8.5.53 - Brisbane 5.3.33

Rising Star winner Ollie Dempsey finds himself the beneficiary of some great transition football from the Geelong half-back line, to kick Geelong’s sixth.

Gryan Myers follows up a minute later with a miraculous snap from the pocket to blow the margin out to 17-points. A crucial five minutes here for the Lions.

Updated

Q2: 7 mins remaining: Geelong 6.5.41 - Brisbane 5.6.36

Gryan Miers runs in for an easy goal to put the goals back in front. Zac Bailey has an opportunity moments later to tie things up once again for the Lions, but sprays his kick right for a behind.

Updated

Q2: 8 mins remaining: Geelong 5.5.35 - Brisbane 5.5.35

A free kick to Lachie Neale hard up against the boundary sees him centre the ball to the top of the square, but is easily punched through by the Cats’ defenders. Scores level.

Updated

Q2: 10 mins remaining: Geelong 5.5.35 - Brisbane 5.3.33

There is no time nor space for either team, as the pace of the game has lifted as we approach halfway in the second quarter.

South Warrnambool’s Hugh McCluggage illustrates this by laying a big tackle, winning the free and kicking truly to bring the Lions back within a kick.

Updated

Q2. 13 mins remaining: Geelong 5.5.35 - Brisbane 4.3.27

Some code-hopping as a great cross from Gryan Miers sets up Ollie Henry to soccer the ball through for Geelong’s fifth.

Geelong’s resurgence has been on the back of some great clearance work, leading that stat 8-2 this quarter.

Updated

The tackling has been a great feature of this game, which you’d expect from two teams who know a thing or two about playing in the penultimate game of the season.

Q2. 15 mins remaining: Geelong 4.5.29 - Brisbane 4.3.27

And just like that, Geelong is back in front as Jeremy Cameron takes advantage of a disorganised Brisbane defence to kick his second goal of the game.

Updated

Q2. 16 mins remaining: Geelong 3.5.23 - Brisbane 4.3.27

Logan Morris marks and kicks his first goal at the MCG to restore Brisbane’s lead to ten-points, after a great intercept spoil from Darcy Wilmot.

However, less than a minute-later, Geelong pulls it back to a four-point game with a great running goal from Shaun Mannagh.

Updated

Q2. 18 mins remaining: Geelong 2.5.17 - Brisbane 3.2.20

Ollie Henry opens the scoring for the second quarter to bring the Cats back to within three-points. Great forward-craft from Henry to keep his feet and get to the ball over the back of the pack.

Updated

McInerney, shoulder strapped is back out on the ground to take the centre bounce to open the second quarter.

QT: Geelong 1.5.11 - Brisbane 3.2.20

A cracking first quarter sees Brisbane with a 9-point lead. The story may be the McInerney injury, which has forced Joe Daniher into the ruck. It will be interesting to see how the Lions restructure, if indeed McInerney is done for the evening.

Brisbane got themselves back into the game through their trademark uncontested marking, and taking some heat out of the game. Geelong has looked dangerous going forward, but failed to capitalise, particularly early.

Updated

Q1. 4 mins remaining: Geelong 1.4.10 - Brisbane 3.2.20

Four goals in a hurry after a dour start. But the big news may be Brisbane’s Oscar McInerney heading off with a shoulder injury – a potentially massive blow for the Lions.

Updated

Q1. 5 mins remaining: Geelong 1.4.10 - Brisbane 2.2.14

Floodgates! Jeremy Cameron with the quick response for Geelong. Zac Bailey then gets the next for Brisbane in less than a minute. Early days, but we have a great contest on our hands here.

Updated

Q1. 6 mins remaining: Geelong 0.4.4 - Brisbane 1.2.8

Charlie Cameron takes a mark inside the boundary with millimetres to spare and the Lions break the deadlock with the game’s first goal. No ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ here at the MCG.

Updated

Q1. 8 mins remaining: Geelong 0.4.4 - Brisbane 0.2.2

The Lions’ Loman wins a dubious free-kick in the forward pocket (‘unreasonable’ contact from Tom Stewart according to the umpire), but fails to make the most of the opportunity.

Updated

The Lions are getting back in this game, but both teams’ kicking efficiency has been ordinary, both going below 60%. We’ve little more than ten minutes to go in the quarter and both sides are still without a goal.

Q1. 12 mins remaining: Geelong 0.4.4 - Brisbane 0.1.1

The Cats miss another very gettable shot and are so far able to take advantage of a dominating opening to this game. Brisbane now starting to settle with some uncontested marks, and tidy transition to have their first shot on goal, but the Lions too miss.

Updated

Q1. 15 mins remaining: Geelong 0.3.3 - Brisbane 0.0.0

A great tackle from Max Holmes sets up a set shot at goal, but his kick fades right for the Cats’ third behind.

Updated

Q1. 17 mins remaining: Geelong 0.1.1 - Brisbane 0.0.0

Geelong is first on the board with a point, after having most of the opening play.

Updated

First score of the game is… not quite. Instead we have a Geelong free kick on the goal line after an Ashcroft snap from the boundary.

Rain starting to fall at the MCG, as the two teams line up for the Welcome to Country from Uncle Colin Hunter Jr.

So how do these two teams stack up in Preliminary Finals?

Both are going better than .500.

Geelong has played in 11 Preliminary Finals and won seven of them. Brisbane has played in seven and won four.

15 minutes to the first bounce as Geelong enters the MCG for another Preliminary Final. An incredible football club.

Updated

Brisbane is the first team to run onto the MCG and if the response is anything to go by, we have a largely partisan Cats crowd here today.

Updated

Melbourne ‘turning it on’ as Melbourne does.

…and at the other end of the ground, we have Joe Daniher, of whom Jonathan Horn says: “in the space of a game, in the space of a quarter, sometimes in the same passage of play, he’ll veer from the sublime to the farcical; from the totally inept to eye-poppingly good.”

Updated

27-minutes away from the bounce… and Geelong’s line-up includes a 27-year-old rookie, Shaun Mannagh, who was playing for Werribee in the VFL this time last year. Jack Snape profiled him on Tuesday.

Here’s how the two sides are named.

GEELONG
B: J.Bews, J.Henry, J.Kolodjashnij
HB: J.Bowes, M.Bliclavs, Z.Guthrie
C: M.Holmes, P.Dangerfield, O.Dempsey
HF: T.Stengle, S.Neale, S.Mannagh
F: G.Miers, J.Cameron, O.Henry
FOLL: R.Stanley, T.Atkins, T.Stewart
I/C: L.Humphries, O.Mullin, B.Close, T.Bruhn, M.Duncan
EMG: Z.Tuohy, S.De Koning, T.Clohesy

BRISBANE
B: D.Zorko, H.Andrews, C.McKenna
HB: D.Wilmot, J.Payne, R.Lester
C: J.Fletcher, W.Ashcroft, H.McCluggage
HF: C.Rayner, J.Daniher, J.Berry
F: C.Cameron, E.Hipwood, Z.Bailey
FOLL: O.McInerney, J.Dunkley, L.Neale
I/C: K.Lohmann, C.Ah Chee, L.Morris, B.Starcevich, N.Answerth
EMG: H.Sharp, D.Fort, D.Joyce

Preamble

Welcome to the MCG for the second preliminary final: Geelong v Brisbane. At the end of it all, the winner will face Sydney in the AFL Grand Final on Saturday, September 28.

The Cats enter this win-or-go-home game with a week’s rest after blowing Port Adelaide’s doors off in the Qualifying Final. Brisbane, on the other hand, had to come back from seven-goals-and-interest down last week to win in their Semi-Final against GWS.

Both sides come into this game with a similar rich vein of form, winning eight out of their past ten games. Courtesy of the proliferation of online gaming promotions – the true weeds of the advertising garden – it appears that it is Geelong is a slight favourite, perhaps courtesy of the aforementioned week’s rest.

Those using history as a guide will also tend to lean towards the Cats, with Geelong having won both times these teams have met in a Preliminary Final (2022 and 2020). It is 20 years since the Lions last took the honours in a final between these sides.

Conditions too may favour Geelong, with Melbourne at its dour best.

One thing Brisbane will need in its favour is accuracy in front of goal, particularly up against an opponent averaging 94 points per game this season (ranked third in the League). While the Lions’ kicking has improved marginally across the past fortnight (after kicking 11.21 against the Bombers in Round 24), they cannot afford to waste any opportunities against a Geelong defence that cannot even find room for Sam De Koning.

One thing for sure is that with Jeremy Cameron and Joe Daniher at either end of the ground, it’s a game that’s bound to be entertaining.

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