Brisbane Lions' slim final hopes remain alive after a gritty win over Melbourne

BRISBANE Lions keep their slim finals hopes alive with a gritty win over Melbourne Demons in the heat and humidity of Darwin.

Pearce Hanley

IT was gritty, not pretty, but Brisbane kept its slim finals hopes alive with a hard-fought 19-point victory over a brave Melbourne in Darwin last night.

With Jonathan Brown, Simon Black and Brent Moloney all missing form the Lions' side, Brisbane was always going to struggle to put the improving Demons to the sword in the heat and humidity of the Northern Territory.

How they got the four premiership points was largely irrelevant.The fact they will leave the Top End with a precious victory is all that matters for Michael Voss and his men.

Craig proud of Demons fight

It was Brisbane's seventh win of 2013, their third in a row and their fourth victory in their last five outings to be two wins out of the top eight.

Melbourne's hopes of springing an upset nosedived midway through the third term when key defender Colin Garland suffered a game-ending ankle injury just minutes after Jimmy Toumpas was subbed out of the match, leaving the Dees with just two players on the bench.

Melbourne was already showing signs of running out of gas and Brisbane pounced, jumping out to a 20-point lead midway through the final quarter.

The Demons refused to give up and closed to within 13 points of the Lions but Brent Staker's third goal of the night drove a dagger through the hearts of Melbourne.

Colin Garland

Irishman Pearce Hanley (27 disposals, five clearances, seven inside 50s and two scoring assists) was Brisbane's best with and was well supported by Tom Rockliff (34 disposals, six clearances), Jack Redden

(26 disposals, two goals), Josh Green (three goals), Matthew Leuenberger (38 hit-outs and 19 disposals) and Andrew Raines who contained Dees dangerman Nathan Jones.

Rookie Jack Viney was ultra-impressive with 21 touches while Colin Sylvia (27 disposals) and Aaron Davey (two goals, 16 touches) also served the Demons well.

The Demons out-scored Brisbane in the third term to trail by just 11 points heading into the last quarter but Brisbane were left to lament inaccurate kicking in front of goal with a 3.7 return.

The Lions roared out to an 18-point advantage after Green kicked his third goal of the night but the Demons struck back with majors to Chris Dawes and Davey.

Every time Brisbane appeared to be pulling away from the Demons, Melbourne dragged themselves back into the contest to set-up a nail-biting final term.

After four lead changes in a  topsy-turvy second quarter, Brisbane eventually edged past the Demons to grab a 12-point buffer at the main break.

Jack Redden

Melbourne picked up where they left off in the first quarter and enjoyed most of the polay at the start of the term but errant kicking in front of goal ensured they did not turn pressure into points.

Green sparked Brisbane's fightback with two quickfire majors to put Brisbane in front.

High-flyer Jeremy Howe spilled what could have been mark of the year midway through the term but Davey crumbed brilliantly to kick a goal and hand the lead back to the Demons.

However, Brisbane rediscovered their run and surged over the top of Melbourne just before halftime with two goals to Jack Redden and a major to Sam Mayes.

Melbourne took a well-deserved nine-point lead into quarter-time after dominating the latter stages of the scrappy opening term.

Jack Fitzpatrick booted three goals for the hard-running Demons who took advantage of a lopsided free kick count (9-4) and sloppy disposal from the Lions.

Brisbane led by eight points midway through the quarter after goals to Jordan Lisle, Daniel Merrett and Staker but were guilty of poor discipline and shabby skills in the humid conditions.

The Lions had the ball 23 more times than the Demons in the first quarter but failed to hit targets on a consistent basis. Brisbane over-possessed the ball and were not direct when they pushed forward.