QClash thriller down to wire
THERE may be no place like home but life on the road is good again for the Gold Coast Suns after they held out Brisbane Lions 11.10 ( 76) to 10.11 ( 71) in yesterday’s AFL derby at the Gabba.
Brisbane clawed back from a 27- point third- term deficit before Cameron Rayner had a chance to lock up the scores on the stroke of fulltime. However, he could only manage a behind as the Suns registered their third win in nine Queensland derbies at the Gabba.
It was a confidence boost for AFL nomads Gold Coast ( 3- 2 record), who snapped a twogame losing run including last round’s 80- point thrashing from West Coast. They are on a three- month AFL road trip due to the Commonwealth Games and won’t host their first game at Carrara until the round- 11 clash with Geelong on June 2.
The Lions were desperate to bounce back from last round’s 93- point loss in which they registered a club record- equalling lowest 17 total points against Richmond. While there was no sign of the Bad News Bears yesterday, the Lions still have one thing in common with their luckless predecessor – they still haven’t won a game.
Besides last week’s effort, last year’s wooden spooners the Lions have been competitive but still have a horror 0- 5 record. It is the second time since 2015 that Brisbane have started a season 0- 5.
Gold Coast’s Touk Miller ( 21 touches) was magnificent for the Suns, and his running battle with Brisbane’s All- Australian Dayne Zorko was worth the price of admission.
It took just 16 seconds for Brisbane to draw first blood through Lewis Taylor but backto- back goals by Gold Coast’s Darcy MacPherson from dubious free kicks gave the Suns an 11- point lead by the first break.
The Suns held on to earn a 7.3 ( 45) to 4.7 ( 31) half- time buffer and seemed to kick away when they blew the deficit out to 27 early in the third.
But forward Eric Hipwood ( three goals) and livewire Charlie Cameron ( two goals) came alive to cut the lead to 15 points by the final break. And when Hipwood booted his third goal in the fourth term the Suns’ lead was four points but it wasn’t to be for the luckless Lions.