Brisbane are through to their third straight preliminary final after one of the most shocking semi-final comebacks in recent memory, clawing back a 44-point deficit to book a place in the penultimate week of the 2024 AFL season.
Gone for most of the night, Chris Fagan and his troops continued to channel their 'dancing on thin ice' mantra, fine tuning their weaknesses on the run to find a way back into the contest and edge ahead in the dying stages of the fourth.
"You don't very often have days like that in footy and that'll be one I never forget," Fagan said post-match.
"We're not usually a come-from-behind-win team. Often we just get out in front and stay out in front.
"Normally we're a high uncontested mark side. Well tonight we weren't, we had to play the chaos game and we showed that we can play it.
"I thought at some point we'd have to kick straight.
"In the last quarter... six goals, two (behinds), pretty happy with that. We got accurate when we needed to."
JOE DANIHER ๐คฏ#AFLFinals | #AFLGiantsLions pic.twitter.com/onTKFq7f34
— AFL (@AFL) September 14, 2024
Key forward Joe Daniher was the fourth quarter hero, booting the go-ahead set shot after taking a contested clunk on Sam Taylor, which followed an absurd set-shot from the ENGIE Stadium carpark.
Down the other end it was Jesse Hogan who looked like ripping the game away from the Lions with two big-time marks and goals to steady the ship after Brisbane's scintillating five goal burst from 18 kicks.
Hogan took advantage of playing on a clearly hampered opponent, Chris Fagan admitting during the week that Jack Payne was not 100%, but still healthy enough to play a critical role in the match.
"He was fit enough to play, I thought Jesse Hogan played a great game. But I thought at the end, Jack got going," Fagan noted.
"It wasn't a game where you thought 'ah he's just down all night', in the last quarter he did some important things.
"I mentioned that to him at three-quarter-time, I said 'mate I know you've had not the best night, but there's a quarter to go'.
"I'm a coach who trusts my players. I've done that since the day I arrived and I think that can take you far.
"And the time to trust them is sometimes when they're not going all that well."
A bigger concern for Brisbane may be the duress being felt by their dual Brownlow medallist.
Lachie Neale has taken on a limited training load for the entire September campaign so far, battling a foot concern.
While he clearly isn't any risk of missing the chance to secure another grand final berth, the injury will generate news during the week, especially with the likelihood of a tag for the Lions champion.
Neale toldย SENย on Monday that he's right to face the Cats despite carrying "a fairly significant issue" into the back end of the season that "flared up" on Saturday night.
"(I'm) certainly not in any doubt. Over the last 8-10 weeks I've had a fairly significant issue with my heel," Neale said.
"But on gameday that actually feels 100 per cent most of the time. (Saturday) was probably the first game it actually flared up a bit. It was grabbing a little bit more than usual.
"I don't do much (training) early in the week. If you watch much training you probably think I'm actually not going to play that's how badly I've sort of been moving.
"I'll definitely play (against the Cats)."
Beaten on the night by tagging machine Toby Bedford, Neale struggled to explode away from the attention.
But while it may hinder for his individual performance, Chris Fagan is more than happy to free up his fellow Lion mids to stand up, as they did Saturday night.
"He lives with that just about every week now," Fagan said, acknowledging the attention Neale garners from the opposition.
"I thought he still made a good contribution tonight, it wasn't a high possession game for Lachie, but the good part is that Will Ashcroft stepped up tonight... what a game for a boy who's 20 years of age and played about 25 games, thought he was awesome tonight.
"So if you're going to tag Lachie, well we've got Josh Dunkley and Hughy McCluggage and Will Ashcroft, they'll pop up."
Brisbane now prepare to meet Geelong at the MCG for preliminary final weekend, just as they did in 2022, unfortunately being mauled by the eventual premier that season.
