Dockers finals hopes takes massive hit from Brisbane Lions

Brisbane produced its best performance in a month in an important win in Perth and may yet benefit from spending the next month at home.

Brisbane spearhead Joe Daniher celebrates the Lions return to form in their dominant win over Fremantle at Optus Stadium. (Picture: Getty Images.

Brisbane bounced out of quarantine and back to winning form with a ruthless 64-point victory over Fremantle at Optus Stadium in Perth on Sunday.

Be it the pent up frustration of spending a week in quarantine, or simply because they were still stinging from their loss to lowly Hawthorn last week, the Lions played with fury from the opening bounce.

The ferocity of their approach was demonstrated in the first half. They laid 26 more tackles than the home team despite having more of the football when setting up a 45-point lead at the main break.

With Joe Daniher regaining his best form with four goals, Brisbane jumped the Swans on the ladder and sit in fifth spot with a fortnight remaining after the 18.10 (118) to 8.6 (54) win.

In an encouraging sign, former Cat Nakia Cockatoo showed spark with two goals in his third match for the Lions after missing almost three years with a string of injuries.

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Darcy Gardiner and Marcus Adams are close to resuming from injury, which will bolster their depth.

The stirring victory dented the finals aspirations of the Dockers, who were lacking key personnel and also energy when wilting under the pressure.

But it may not be the only welcome news for the Lions after they struggled against Hawthorn in Launceston last week during another week of Covid-19 related turmoil for the AFL.

With the coronavirus lockdown ending in southeast Queensland on Sunday, the Lions may well be able to enjoy an extended stint at home leading into the finals.

This would be a prize well-deserved given they were subjected to an extended road trip in the infancy of the season and again forced to deal with drama over the past fortnight.

Barring an extraordinary fall from the top four sides, it is now too late for the Lions to secure a double-chance in the finals.

But hosting a home elimination at the Gabba would give Brisbane a base from which to launch in September as they bid to better a preliminary final finish last year.

The Lions are scheduled to host Collingwood at the Gabba next week and then could derail the hopes of the other Western Australian club in the Eagles in Brisbane in round 23.

As with every weekend, the caveat relates to Covid-19 challenges, but all going well, Brisbane could well be based at home until the second week of September.

There is far less joy for Fremantle, which slipped from eighth at the start of the weekend to 12th, with an already low percentage taking another costly hit as a result of the loss.

Fremantle showed resilience under pressure to hold on against Richmond a week ago but struggled against the Lions, which is no surprise given the personnel they are missing.

Dual-Brownlow Medallist and captain Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters head a list of talents who missed against Brisbane.

To have any hope of playing finals, the Dockers must end a losing streak of 11 in next weekend’s derby against West Coast and then beat St Kilda in the final round.