Heartbreaking moment after Brisbane’s elimination from AFL finals

Brisbane’s season is over after a one-point loss to the Western Bulldogs and the Lions’ heartbreaking reality has been laid bare.

Cam Rayner consoles Rhys Mathieson after Brisbane's heartbreaking finals loss.

Football can be a cruel beast at times and that was on show for all to see in a heartbreaking reaction to Brisbane’s dramatic one-point semi-final loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.

The Lions held a slender lead throughout most of the game until the Bulldogs made a charge in the last quarter.

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At one stage the game appeared set to go to extra time when young guns Bailey Smith and Zac Bailey scored clutch goals for the Bulldogs and Lions respectively to level the score at 78-78 with barely a minute remaining.

But the Bulldogs managed to get the ball forward and hit the lead with seconds to go thanks to a scrappy behind from Laitham Vandameer and held on to secure a memorable 11.13 (79) to 11.12 (78) victory.

The nailbiting loss eliminated Brisbane from the finals and ended its season in heartbreaking fashion.

The cutthroat nature of the loss was highlighted in an emotional video shared by the Brisbane Lions social media account on Sunday.

Cam Rayner was quick to console his distraught teammate.

In the raw clip, midfielder Rhys Mathieson can be seen crying profusely with a hoodie over his head as the realisation his team’s season is over sets in.

Mathieson was not selected in Brisbane’s team and was sitting in the grandstand with other non-playing teammates along with friends and family.

As he continued to cry, there was a touching moment when his teammate Cameron Rayner got up from two seats over and leaned across to console Mathieson.

More than a game ❤️
Cam consoling a distraught Matho as they watch on from the stands last night 😞 #Uncagedpic.twitter.com/5zbsQikYbY

— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) September 5, 2021

Rayner hugged his distraught teammate and kissed him on the head in a heartwarming embrace, while rubbing his back.

Mathieson has been on the fringes of Brisbane’s best line-up this year and would have been hoping to get a call up into the team if the Lions were to progress to a preliminary final or even a grand final.

Rayner, a former No. 1 draft pick, ruptured his ACL in a pre-season match in March and hasn’t played a game for the Lions all year.

It was a tale of agony and ecstasy for Lions and Bulldogs supporters.

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth’s reaction to the Bulldogs’ win went viral after he posted a shirtless photo of himself celebrating to Instagram.

The whole Hemsworth clan are Bulldogs diehards. Chris, one of the side’s biggest supporters, attended the 2016 Grand Final win”

Rhys Mathieson was in tears after Brisbane’s heartbreaking finals exit. Photo: Tara Croser.

Still ripped to shreds despite filming of the next Thor movie — Thor: Love and Thunder — having wrapped months ago, Hemsworth shared his reaction to the one point victory on Instagram.

He wrote: “One of the most nerve racking games of @afl I’ve ever watched!! Well done @westernbulldogs keep it up!!”

The post left the AFL account confused about what was the best thing in the photo: “we don’t know where to look”.

In less than 12 hours, Hemsworth had earned more than 1.3m likes for the post from his 50.4m followers.

The result sees the Bulldogs book a spot in next Saturday night’s preliminary final against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Originally published as Heartbreaking moment after Brisbane’s elimination from AFL finals