BRISBANE forward Eric Hipwood’s four-goal burst in the third quarter has sparked the Lions to a 33-point AFL win over Melbourne.
In front of 24,809 fans at the Gabba, Hipwood turned a scrappy affair on its head with four majors including one after the three-quarter siren as the Lions claimed a 15.17 (107) to 11.8 (74) win.
It’s Brisbane’s ninth win of the campaign and keeps them firmly in the top eight.
Melbourne led at the end of the first and second quarters but once Hipwood put the home team in front they didn’t look back.
Lions skipper Dayne Zorko, who was brilliant throughout, sparked the goalscoring spree with a sensational outside of the boot right-foot pass which Hipwood marked right in front of the goals.
He then scored three much harder efforts from the right boundary pocket before using his right foot at the start of the final term for his fifth major.
Zorko finished with three majors himself as well as 31 disposals and seven clearances.
Fellow midfielder Lachie Neale was also heavily involved for the Lions, picking up a game-high 38 disposals and 12 clearances.
Christian Petracca had two first-quarter goals to be the only multiple goalscorer for the Demons, while Christian Salem and Clayton Oliver both picked up over 30 disposals each.
To compound the defeat, Demons ruckman Max Gawn finished the match on the bench after injuring his ankle in the second term.
The ruckman rolled his ankle coming down from a contest with Lion Stef Martin and despite returning late in the term, did not have much impact and spent most of the final quarter sitting on the pine.
Brisbane also had an injury concern with tall Oscar McInerney copping a heavy head knock in the second quarter.
McInerney’s head collided with the hip of Demon Salem, leaving him bloodied and groggy.
The 205cm ruckman was helped off the field by trainers but did not return due to concussion, although he was later cleared of a broken nose.
Brisbane face a major test when they next travel to Sydney to play GWS while Melbourne takes on Carlton.
© AAP 2019
BRISBANE LIONS 2.6 4.11 10.14 15.17 (107)
MELBOURNE 3.3 6.5 9.6 11.8 (74)
Goals: Brisbane Lions: E Hipwood 5 D Zorko 3 A Christensen C Cameron J Lyons L McCarthy M Robinson N Answerth Z Bailey. Melbourne: C Petracca 2 M Hannan 2 B Fritsch J Hunt J Lockhart J Viney S May S Weideman T McDonald.
Umpires: Brett Rosebury, Leigh Fisher, Hayden Gavine.
Official Crowd: 24,809 at Gabba.
