3 minute read
Seeing pressure as a weakness ahead of the AFL finals, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and his players turned it into a potent weapon throughout September.
Pressure makes diamonds. On Saturday it also fuelled Lions and killed Swans.
After seeing it as a weakness in their game ahead of the AFL finals, Brisbane went to work on pressure and turned it into a massive strength.
With the game in the balance at quarter-time of Saturday's grand final, the Lions ratcheted up the attack on the ball and Sydney could not cope.
The Lions piled on seven goals to one, turning an eight-point lead at quarter-time to a yawning 46-point gap at the main break. They won by 10 goals.
The biggest grand final comeback win remains Carlton's iconic recovery from 44 points down at half-time in 1970 against Collingwood.
Sydney coach John Longmire tried several moves at the start of the second half, but after being so good for so long this season, it was just too big a road back for his Swans.
Brisbane, meanwhile, had to recover from 44 points down in their semi-final win over GWS and 25 points behind last weekend against Geelong to make the grand final.
That they were able to pile on the goals and overwhelm their opponents was no fluke.
"We talked about the idea that we could turn it into a secret weapon for us, because we hadn't been doing it all that well," coach Chris Fagan said of their build-up to September.
"Across the course of the finals our pressure has been enormous and our better quarters in finals ... we've scored heavily.
"We talked about that at quarter-time and we got a lift in that area. We put it down to that."
It certainly was the key lament for Sydney coach John Longmire.
"Sometimes you have to start at the very basic level, which is more pressure around the ball. We didn't get that right," he said of their futile efforts to work back into the game.
Another key for Brisbane was the spread of their goalkicking. Joe Daniher and Charlie Cameron are the top dogs in attack, but on Saturday Callum Ah Chee and Kai Lohmann led the way with four goals apiece.
Fagan said Ah Chee and Lohmann were able to "get out of the loop" and sting Sydney.
Then came Eric Hipwood and his outrageous snap from deep in the pocket as Brisbane went berserk during the second quarter.
With all due respect to Hipwood, he is a mercurial talent who can miss the easiest of set shots.
Once Hipwood unveiled his party trick, complete with a celebratory nod to Brisbane great Jason Akermanis, the Swans were cooked.
Meanwhile, Sydney star Isaac Heeney limped off in the third term, the lower-leg injury he had carried through the finals eventually proving too much.
Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale has had his own well-documented foot injury. He racked up 34 possessions and shone.
On a day that everything went right for the Lions, the Swans could not take a trick.