Lions leave Blues lost for answers
Carltonâs season hit a new low as the Brisbane Lions defeated them by nine points.
PT1M31S 620 349BRISBANE 3.1 5.4 10.9 12.12 (84)
CARLTON 3.2 6.4 9.7 11.9 (75)
Goals: Brisbane: D McStay 4 J Green 3 A Christensen L Taylor M Leuenberger R Lester T Rockliff. Carlton: L Casboult 4 M Murphy 2 T Bell 2 C Judd L Jones P Cripps.BEST Brisbane Lions: DBeams, Christensen, Taylor, Martin, Rockliff, Paparone, McStay. Carlton: Bell, Judd, Curnow, Docherty, Casboult, Cripps.
Umpires: Ben Ryan, Ray Chamberlain, Jordan Bannister.
Official Crowd: 20,273 at Etihad Stadium.
The focus on Carlton and its veteran coach Mick Malthouse is set to move into the red zone after the Blues went down to the previously winless Brisbane Lions by nine points on Sunday.
Blues skipper Marc Murphy with coach Mick Malthouse. Photo: Getty Images
The Lions entered the game having won just one quarter in 2015, but bettered the Blues through the middle stages of the game and held their nerve as Carlton came at them at the death. Import Dayne Beams was influential throughout, while fellow recruit Allen Christensen's second half was huge.
The Blues had endured nine long days since their trouncing by Collingwood and were eager to see their work summarised with a more pleasant adjective than "insipid". Yet they were error-prone, often lost for options, and always looked in danger of being on the wrong end of the result.
Chris Judd and Patrick Cripps cracked in early, Levi Casboult kicked straight from 40 metres, and a dominance of contested possession indicated a team that was having a dip. But the winless Lions knew they started as the poor relation in this last-versus-second-last affair, and in the Beams brothers, Claye and Dayne, the dynamic Lewis Taylor and Daniel McStay up front had players determined to change their team's fortunes.
Lions captain Tom Rockliff celebrates the win. Photo: Getty Images
In the face of sustained Brisbane pressure the Blues made hard work of it. When Tom Bell intercepted in the middle retreat was his only option, but even with runners surging forward the ball went only in the other direction, all the way back to the defensive goalsquare, and the faithful were booing by the time it dribbled limply out of play at half-back.
McStay's third put the Lions in front before Bell and Casboult steadied for Carlton, and Liam Jones' miss on the half-time siren prompted a push and shove that amounted to nothing and was a fair summation of proceedings to that point.
The opening minutes of the third quarter encapsulated the vindication a team feels when a forward honours his teammates' toil, as Casboult did with his third goal coolly screwed around the corner, and the contrasting deflation of a textbook clearance (Judd) let down by a tiresome miss (Jones again).
The Lions couldn't buy a centre clearance and had prime mover Daniel Rich blanketed by Zach Tuohy with help from the consistent and industrious Sam Docherty. Yet they managed to keep the goal-for-goal sequence going as McStay kicked a career-high fourth, before Josh Green nipped in with two in a row and there was only two points in it.
Intensity was up but the game stopped when Nick Robertson, after fair pressure from Bell, went head-first into the fence and was stretchered off.
Christensen's move north hasn't yet been critically acclaimed but the former Cat was responsible for the Lions arm-wrestling their way to the front, shrugging a tackle to feed Ryan Lester with one of 10 third-quarter possessions, then increasing the lead to 14 points at the start of the last after Tuohy took him high.
Tom Rockliff added another and navy Blue nerves were jangling as the deficit drew out to 21 points. Jones finally kicked straight to start a rally, Bell cut the margin to nine points with time on the clock, but Carlton's last chance fell to Casboult, uncommonly on the run through 50. He hit the kick sweetly, as he'd done all night, but it missed narrowly to the left.
The sight of Jones steadying himself for a last shot at goal, as the crowd screamed at him to get on with it, then kicking out on the full was the final frustration of a sorry afternoon.
