Brisbane Lions cement top four spot with win against GWS Giants, Izak Rankine dazzles as Suns edge out Swans
The Gold Coast Suns might have lost Matt Rowell, but they still have the hottest young star in the AFL in Izak Rankine. The kid, in just is his second game, had Suns coach Stuart Dew shaking his head at his magic.
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The Swans will not go down without a fight.
Despite copping their fourth consecutive loss against the Gold Coast Suns, John Longmire’s injury-ravaged side played hard until the end of an exciting contest at the SCG.
Sydney played fast and entertaining footy – world away from the ugly, low scoring affair of last week – but in the end couldn’t match a dominant Suns front that won 92-60.
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“It was a pretty fast-paced game, both teams from our point of view always looked dangerous,” Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew said.
“At different parts of the game, we were really worried by their aggressive ball movement, when they obviously got ascendancy in the air,
“At three-quarter time we stressed the fact that the aggression part in the last quarter is going to be really important.”
But in the end, Lachie Weller, Sam Day and Izak Rankine kicked two goals a piece and kept the Gold Coast in front.
And a huge effort from midfielder Hugh Greenwood – making 12 tackles and 23 disposals – showed that the Suns remain well in the mix for finals footy.
RANKINE IS THE REAL DEAL
It took just four minutes for Gold Coast prodigy Izak Rankin to baffle Dew.
The Suns’ Jack Bowes took an early mark 40m out, but missed his shot at goal.
Out of nowhere, Rankine weaved around four Swans defenders to somehow boot – soccer style – the first goal of the contest.
Dew was seen on television shaking his head in the coaches box.
“For any kids out there watching, he doesn’t fluke it, he practices those things,” Dew said.
“A little bit of disbelief, but I shouldn’t be surprised, that he can do that.
“Some of these young kids coming through now, they do practice this stuff, it’s a different game from when I played and guys make something out of nothing every time.”
After his exceptional debut last week, Rankine backed it up at the SCG to slot two goals in just his second ever AFL game.
Dew admitted that he can’t wait to find out what else the 20-year-old will do for the Suns this season.
“He’s exciting for us to see, again he got us going in the early part of the game,” Dew said.
“His presence around the ball is really great to watch, certainly the opposition know where he is,”
“He’s had four shots on goal, they ran him down a couple of times, we encouraged him to keep taking the game on, he looks like he’s enjoying his football.”
SWANS TALLS TIMBER
Sydney’s Aliir Aliir, Callum Sinclair and Tom McCartin returned on Saturday, and the trio of timber made an instant impact.
McCartin took a spectacular grab over a big pack of Suns – including 209cm skipper Jarrod Witts – to slot Sydney’s first goal of the match.
Out of form Aliir booted two goals – the third and fourth of his career – after spending a week in reserve grade.
The big man took an early mark in front of the posts, but he tried to chip it away to teammate Nick Blakey.
But time was off, play brought back and Aliir finished it off beautifully.
“Tommy coming back in was useful, he’d missed three games,” Swans coach Longmire said.
“Aliir was a target up there, kicked a couple of goals and Sam Reid got through today so hopefully he’ll be available as well.”
PAPLEY’S PARTY TRICK
Sydney’s Tom Papley reminded everyone why he’s the best small forward in the AFL.
The Coleman Medal leader booted two spectacular goals – including a brilliant rove goal – to keep his side in the contest.
Papley has now kicked goals in 25 consecutive games.
“Clearly he’s a focal point and kicks goals, but he’s also a great energy giver and he’s a competitor, he just wants to win … he’s going really well,” Longmire said.
NO.37 RETURNS
Adam Goodes’ famous No.37 gurney returned to the SCG for the first time in almost five years, worn by Swans debutante Elijah Taylor.
“He showed some signs, those young fellas just have to take a bit of time, a few hours and we’ll keep working with them and give them opportunities to play and they’ll learn” Longmire said.
Sydney’s Colin O’Riordan left the field with a jarred hip, but Longmire expects the defender to recover in time for next week’s clash against Hawthorn.
SCOREBOARD
GOLD COAST 2.3 6.7 10.13 13.14 (92)
def
SYDNEY 2.1 5.3 9.3 9.6 (60)
GOALS
Sydney: McCartin 2, Aliir 2, Papley 2, Hayward 2, Clarke
Gold Coast: Weller 2, Rankine 2, Day 2, Anderson, MacPherson, Sexton, Lukosius, King, Swallow, Holman
JOCELYN AIRTH’S BEST
Sydney: Parker, Papley, McCartin, Aliir, Hayward
Gold Coast: Greenwood, Rankine, Swallow, Witts, Weller
JOCELYN AIRTH’S VOTES:
3 – Hugh Greenwood
2 – Izak Rankine
1 – Luke Parker
INJURIES
Sydney: O’Riordan (hip)
Gold Coast: Nil
ARE GIANTS LEAVING TOP-FOUR RUN TOO LATE?
GWS coach Leon Cameron has made the frank admission the Giants are no longer a top tier side as they brace for a must-win Grand Final rematch against Richmond.
A bitterly disappointed Cameron couldn’t hide his frustration at his team’s awful start against Brisbane, conceding the Giants were then left “clutching” for the rest of the 20-point loss despite staging a third-quarter comeback.
GWS has now lost two straight and risks being leapfrogged by two more sides on Sunday, in a week where they must turn their attention to the benchmark Tigers who embarrassed them in last year’s Grand Final.
Toby Greene missed the Lions clash, but Cameron warned his team can’t afford to get into the mentality that the star forward can fix all their problems if he returns to face the premiers – because the brutal reality is they’ve fallen a long way off the pace.
“The last two games we’ve got beaten by two-and-a-half or three goals, which shows a couple of things. And that is we are a rung off the top-liners at the moment,” said Cameron.
“There was some better stuff … but then a couple of other things reared up which shows the lack of consistency and no doubt the boys are down a bit on confidence.
“We have to fight through this as a footy club. We have to hang in there when things aren’t going well. We’ve done it in the past and I’m really backing our players to do it again this year.”
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Cameron denied he was worried about running out of time to get his players clicking in a shortened season.
“There’s that logjam and we’re in that logjam. We win a couple and lose a couple. They’re disappointed. They’re flat at the moment,” said Cameron.
“We need to take responsibility.
“Stepping up at the right time is a huge challenge for us. You’re clutching all the time. You don’t want to be doing that. You want to be sticking to process and doing that over and over again.
“Whether Toby comes in or not we can’t rely on one player … we need to find it and find it fast. But we look forward to doing that.”
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said the 88-68 win, which involved some drastic momentum shifts, was just what the doctor ordered for his side after they blew a huge lead last week against Geelong.
“It was good to have that game after last week because last week after Geelong came at us, we didn’t respond,” Fagan said.
“Today showed we’d learned a lot from last week’s game. We were able to respond each time that GWS had a run at us, which is really pleasing.
“They showed good composure today, and dug in when they needed to.”
Fagan is refusing to buy into speculation that the Lions could benefit from the prospect that large parts of the rest of the season could now be played in Queensland, with all Victorian teams to relocate to the sunny State.
“There’s no assumptions on our behalf and I don’t think that necessarily gives us an advantage,” he said.
LIONS WOBBLE BUT HOLD FIRM
Stephen Coniglio stood up to be counted for GWS, but the captain’s knock was not enough to stop the bleeding for a struggling Giants side overrun by Brisbane.
The Lions catapulted back into second place on the ladder, with defensive powerhouse Harris Andrews once again a tower of strength and Charlie Cameron and Cam Rayner producing the killer blows upfront in a convincing 20-point win at Giants Stadium.
After hammering home the first four goals of the match, Brisbane cantered ahead by 32 points early in the third, before the orange tsunami clicked and reduced the margin to just eight shortly before the final break.
However, Rayner came from nowhere to claim a stunning pack mark – one of the best of the season – before going back to kick the turning point goal at the end of the third and settle Brisbane’s nerves.
From there, the Lions kicked again in the last to reassert their position as title contenders – consigning GWS coach Leon Cameron to some further headaches this week as he tries desperately to get last year’s Grand Finalists gelling again before it’s too late.
The Giants missed a chance to move back into the top eight, and now risk dropping out of top-four contention soon if they can’t break out of their current funk.
Coniglio responded to speculation over his place in the team with a game-high 27 disposals and nine clearances in what was the skipper’s best game since the season resumption.
LIONS THIRD QUARTER STRUGGLES
For the second week in a row, the Lions lost direction in the third quarter, leaving coach Chris Fagan sitting on the edge of his seat.
Last week at the SCG, the Lions appeared to be cruising against Geelong before being completely dismantled after halftime.
On Saturday they still escaped with victory over GWS, but they did it the hard way – giving up a 32-point lead early in the third to concede four goals straight.
Jeremy Cameron kicked two goals, including a potential game-changing screamer from 50m out, before Matt de Boer closed out the third with a great finish.
CURIOUS CAMERON MATCH-UP
Nick Haynes might be rated the second-best defensive player in the competition, but there instant alarm bells ringing about his match-up against Brisbane dynamo Charlie Cameron.
“Nick wants to go at the ball. Charlie wants to get out the back,” said Fox Footy expert, David King.
Cameron had five touches early for the Lions and was wreaking havoc before Giants coach Leon Cameron was forced into a snap change midway through the second quarter – sending veteran Heath Shaw to the Brisbane game-breaker.
The change up didn’t necessarily stop Cameron, who continued to work his magic up forward, but it released Haynes to play his usual role of saving the Giants’ bacon at the back.
COGS’ COMEBACK
Under pressure all week, the Giants’ captain courageous made most daring play of the match when he set up Jeremy Finlayson for probably the most unique goal of the season.
Coniglio took a mark on the edge of the 50, before deliberately kicking out to Finlayson right out on the right-hand flank.
Finlayson didn’t hesitate in snapping one off his left boot from the boundary line to bring GWS back into the match in the second quarter at 34-21.
According to commentators, it defied logic for Coniglio to go to the edge of the pocket for an option – but it appeared a set-play designed to make use of Finlayson’s golden touch from that side of the ground.
GWS INSIDE-OUT
The Giants made big improvements against the Lions, and showed once again they are capable of mixing it with the best teams in the competition – but for inside-50s, GWS is still getting humiliated.
After three quarters GWS was minus 17 for inside-50s.
Once again, the supreme efficiency of the Giants forwards kept them in the hunt – operating at 59 per cent efficiency inside 50 – but giving away that level of discrepancy is simply not going to cut it in crunch matches.
SCOREBOARD
BRISBANE 4.4 7.5 10.6 13.10 (88)
def
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 2.3 4.4 8.5 10.8 (68)
GOALS
GWS: Himmelberg 3, Taranto 2, Cameron 2, Finlayson, de Boer
Brisbane: Cameron 2, Rayner 2, Bailey 2, Zorko, Neale, McCarthy, Lyons, Hipwood, Martin, McCarthy
BEN HORNE’S BEST
GWS: Coniglio, Hopper, Himmelberg, Corr, Haynes
Brisbane: Andrews, Birchall, Zorko, Lyons, Cameron
BEN HORNE’S VOTES:
3 – Harris Andrews
2 – Grant Birchall
1 – Stephen Coniglio
INJURIES
Greater Western Sydney: Nil
Brisbane: Nil
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Originally published as Brisbane Lions cement top four spot with win against GWS Giants, Izak Rankine dazzles as Suns edge out Swans