AFL preliminary final live: Brisbane Lions to face Sydney in Grand Final after stunning Geelong
Brisbane Lions will meet Sydney in this year’s Grand Final after staging an incredible second-half comeback against Geelong, with Cam Rayner the hero.
Brisbane has mounted not one, but two comebacks to advance to the Grand Final with a 10-point win over Geelong in a pulsating preliminary final at the MCG.
The Lions are the great survivors of the finals series and will relish their underdog status against Sydney after overcoming a 25-point deficit early in the third term only for the Cats to wrench back the lead via a stunning Ollie Henry snap with two minutes and 45 seconds remaining.
“We train those scenarios all the time at training so I had a lot of confidence in the group that we could pull it back,” Lions spearhead Eric Hipwood said post-match.
“Early in the year we lost a couple of close ones. We had a good introduction to that in the Melbourne game at the Gabba which we won by a point, and we had a fair few close games in that period so we felt we had it under control late in the game.”
Brisbane immediately responded with Callum Ah Chee booting his third goal off one step from 40 metres after taking advantage from a free kick paid to Charlie Cameron.
EVERY PLAYER RATED: See the player ratings from Brisbane’s win over Geelong
The Lions thought they had sunk the hammer blow a minute later when Cam Rayner roosted home his second goal off his non-preferred left from outside 50, but Rhys Stanley won a free kick 15m out from goal with less than a minute left.
Stanley took most of his 30 seconds, but clearly battling an injury to his hip area, did not connect properly with his kick and hit the post to ensure the Lions would advance to the decider.
“Finals and big games are about moments. If you can win more moments than the opposition it goes a long way to winning and we’ve learned that over the last six years of playing in finals,” Hipwood said.
“There’s a lot of confidence in this group.”
Brisbane could be without ruckman Oscar McInerney after he dislocated his shoulder in the first term and was eventually subbed out, but the Lions were able to adapt without him as Joe Daniher rucked solo and Lachie Neale seized control of the midfield with six first-quarter clearances.
Geelong was badly affected by a hamstring injury to Max Holmes, who was the Cats’ best before he spent most of the third quarter on the bench before signalling to trainers that he could no longer go on early in the last term.
GRYANEL MESSI
Three brilliant efforts from Gryan Miers put Brisbane on the back foot in the second term, with a soccered goal assist calling back to an infamous fake Gerard Whateley quote which did the rounds online last year.
Miers desperately chased a bouncing ball to trap it just inside the boundary line, before he dribbled the ball from the pocket across goal into the path of Ollie Henry, displaying all the vision and craft of an Argentinian football legend.
“Has anyone ever compared Gryan Miers to Messi?,” the real Whateley asked on SEN after Ollie Henry met the cross with his own soccer kick to smash through the Cats’ fourth goal of the quarter.
Miers nailed two majors of his own including a flying snap which bizarrely floated through with the ball hardly deviating from its axis, which capped off a sublime seven-goal term for the home side.
THE BIG ‘OW’
Oscar McInerney horribly dislocated his left shoulder after his arm got caught trying to tackle Tom Atkins with five minutes left in the first term.
The Brisbane ruckman was in so much pain he fell to the ground and looked on the verge of passing out as he was helped off by trainers.
The ‘Big O’ fought bravely, but he was clearly restricted by the pain as Geelong started to get its clearance game going in the second term, and was helped from the field again and subbed out midway through the third.
McInerney was taken to hospital in an ambulance and faces an uphill battle to get up for his second Grand Final.
It could be former Cat Darcy Fort who returns to shoulder the ruck load against Brodie Grundy after only two senior games this year, and none since round 7.
RAYNER SILENCES DOUBTERS
Neale was monstrous in the middle with 10 disposals and six clearances to lift the Lions in the third quarter, but they also needed offensive punch.
They found it in Cam Rayner, who had 11 disposals and five score involvements, kicked a goal, and had another one denied at the last second when it was found to have been touched on review.
AH CHEE PUTS BRISBANE BACK IN FRONT
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) September 21, 2024
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Rayner stepped up with a mighty quarter at the MCG earlier in the season against Melbourne, but it wasn’t enough to keep the critics away during his quiet patches later in the year.
This performance put any notion he cannot perform in big games to bed, and the former No. 1 pick will come back to the MCG next week full of self-belief.
Recap a stunning preliminary final below.
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