Brisbane have stunned Hawthorn and given the Hawks’ AFL finals aspirations a serious hit with a 33-point win in Launceston.
The Lions attacked the footy harder and were more desperate than the Hawks in the 15.8.98 to 9.11.65 victory on Saturday afternoon – their third in a row.
Young guns Cameron Rayner and Eric Hipwood booted three goals each, including crucial majors at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The Lions kicked 10 goals to three in the second half after trailing by 11 points at halftime.
Rayner was steady beyond his 18 years for a runaway goal that opened the final term and broke the backs of the Hawks.
The Hawks managed just one point in the last quarter – the Lions booted the last six goals of the match.
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan praised his young side for “finding a way”.
“We’ve been on this improvement curve for a while but we’ve sort of struggled to get our young players to play hard enough for long enough,” he said.
“Just lately they’ve been able to go the distance.”
The win was made even more impressive in the absence of star Luke Hodge, who was a late withdrawal with a sore calf muscle.
Dayne Beams was one of the best on ground with 33 possessions, seven clearances and two goal assists.
Hawthorn were eighth going into the round but could drop as low as 10th after their second loss in three games.
They won inside 50s 55-51 but couldn’t convert.
“We just wasted so many chances. They were able to capitalise on their chances better than we were,” Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said.
“In the end we lost spirit and faith in the way we wanted to play.
“Some of it is just fundamental skills under heat, in terms of being able to make a good opportunity into a goal scoring chance.
“We just made some dreadful blunders. Some of those they ended up being two-goal swings.”
Tom Mitchell was kept quiet in the second half but still finished with a game-high 43 touches – 29 of those came before the main break.
Jaeger O’Meara was a shining light for Hawthorn with four goals but none came in the final quarter when the Hawks needed it the most.
The Hawks were still in the match at three-quarter time despite trailing 72-64.
Hawthorn, who play Carlton next week, are in a tussle with several sides for a top-eight spot.
