The AFL finals moment: How 50-marvellous minutes kept Brisbane’s premiership dream alive

Brisbane leading Carlton by a huge margin at the Gabba — it felt all too familiar. But in comparison to Opening Round, when Carlton came from 46 points down, there were some key differences. CALLUM DICK unpacks them.

You could hear the murmur ripple around the Gabba.

Never before had a fan base held its collective breath for a shot on goal to go up 47-0.

But Brisbane’s bruised and battered fans, who sat in the same seats 183 days earlier and saw the unthinkable happen, had been burned before.

Only last month they watched five-goal leads evaporate in the blink of an eye against GWS and Collingwood. That cost them a place in the top four.

Something similar on Saturday night would cost them their season – and sanity.

So when Cal Ah Chee – the saviour against Sydney six weeks earlier – kicked truly from just inside the paint to go beyond the 46-point margin Carlton clawed its way back from in Opening Round, the Lions fans let out a sigh of relief.

It finally felt like Mission Impossible for Captain Carlton (Cripps) and co.

Minutes later, when Brisbane’s would-be Mr September Cam Rayner climbed onto the shoulders of Adam Cerra and plucked a hanger from the clouds before extending the margin further, it felt like party time.

Rayner and Hipwood high-fived and it was happy days, just like at Hawthorn. Except it wasn’t.

It couldn’t happen again, could it?

Super sub Tom De Koning – yes, the ruckman – was dragged from the bench midway through the second quarter in place of an unimpressed Matt Kennedy, and the game began to turn.

Cripps, who to that point had been a one man army against the runaway Brisbane freight train, broke the Blues’ goal drought and let out a roar that was as much relief as anything else.

They added a second before the major break and Brisbane lost Jack Payne to a knee injury.

It couldn’t happen again, could it?

In quick succession the Blues booted three more goals to open the second half and cut the margin back to within five goals.

The rousing rendition of Country Roads from the first quarter was long forgotten as the Carlton fans suddenly found their voice.

Young Lion Logan Morris had the chance to put the run to bed. He hit the post from the top of the goalsquare.

Never mind. Because Kai Lohmann and Zac Bailey will walk in the goal moments later, right? No. They mess that up, too.

The Brisbane fans began to get restless.

Enter Ah Chee. The man who one Brisbane beat writer loves to joke always begins the year in the B-team, but trains his way into the seniors.

Cameron Rayner was one of Brisbane’s matchwinners. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The unheralded utility showed why Fagan has kept the faith when he kicked true, when his teammates couldn’t, to break the Blues’ run and restore some surety to the home side.

Take a breath, Brisbane faithful. Job done and onto the Giants next week in Sydney.

Spare a thought for the Carlton captain.

For a half of football, it looked like Cripps was the only man who got on the plane to Brisbane earlier in the week.

The enormity of his mission crystallised in the second quarter, when he won an impossible 1v2 battle against both Lachie Neale and Josh Dunkley on the boundary to send the Blues forward.

It ended in the hands of Harry McKay, who subsequently shanked it out on the full. It was a moment that deserved much more than it got.

Cripps could only sigh and run to position, ready to put his heart and soul on the line again for little reward.

He might add a second Brownlow Medal to his trophy cabinet later this month. But the premiership he deserves will still elude him for at least another 12 months.