The Gabba was plunged into darkness by an influence outage that halted play for nearly 40 minutes to delay – and nearly thwart – Brisbane’s march to a 11-point AFL victory over Melbourne.
The Lions had been main by 40 factors with about 12 minutes remaining within the closing time period on Friday evening.
But then the Brisbane stadium went darkish, apart from a lone bulb in a light-weight tower that was on fireplace.
Enough gentle returned earlier than the 60-minute lower off that will have handed Brisbane victory.
The hosts finally prevailed 14.9 (93) to 13.4 (82) – and with an enormous sigh of aid after conceding 5 unanswered targets as soon as play resumed.
“What a night, seriously,” Brisbane coach Chris Fagan mentioned, earlier than jokingly requesting to not be requested in regards to the closing 13 minutes.
“We played so well for three-and-a-half quarters … we had them on the ropes.
“There’s nothing to lose for the crew that is behind in that scenario so, psychologically, that was a bonus to them they usually did it effectively.”
In eerie scenes, the players had stood on the ground for several minutes before heading inside as power slowly returned to the ground.
They reappeared about 30 minutes later to warm up and were suddenly back underway.
It was a confusing sequence of events but not the first time it’s happened at the Gabba, with a Big Bash League fixture in 2019 ended early by a power outage.
In 1996, disgruntled fans lit fires on the surface and in the stands of Waverley Park when a blackout forced St Kilda and Essendon’s clash to be completed a week later. Three years later, the MCG scoreboard caught fire.
There were contrasting scenes at the Gabba, though, as 30,047 cheery fans broke into song waiting for a resumption.
Earlier the Lions, still smarting after a first-round hiding from Port Adelaide, shot out of the gates with six first-quarter goals while Demons star Max Gawn left the game with a knee injury.
The ruckman cutting a devastated figure and will wait on scans, hopeful of no long-term injury.
Steven May (calf) was ruled out of his injury return before the bounce and the Lions went in for the kill, Melbourne’s second-quarter resistance blown apart with two early third-quarter goals that looked to have sealed a win for Chris Fagan’s side.
Brisbane upset the Demons in last year’s semi-final and Fagan was keen to show it was no “fluke”, especially after their slack Adelaide Oval effort last Saturday.
Playing at half-forward, Dayne Zorko (22 touches, two goals, eight inside 50s, four tackles) showed how important he remains to Brisbane after missing round one, while Cam Rayner was electric in defence and Will Ashcroft (31 touches) a midfield jewel in his second AFL game.
Brisbane blew the Demons apart in the clearances, winning 60-32.
Early pressure from Jarrod Berry helped restrict Clayton Oliver to one first-half clearance, but the Demons star still finished with 37 disposals.
Ben Brown (three goals) and Bailey Fritsch took their chances to get the Demons back within 20 points in the second quarter, but quick Charlie Cameron and Joe Daniher goals to begin the second half snuffed them out.
Teams went goal-for-goal early but the Lions exploded late in the first quarter, notching 14-straight inside 50s.
With the forlorn Gawn icing his knee in the dressing room, Zorko, Ashcroft, Oscar McInerney and Daniher all hit the scoreboard to create an early 25-point lead.
“I really like the desire and the battle in our crew,” Demons coach Simon Goodwin mentioned.
“There’s loads to take out of that final 12 minutes … however Brisbane beat us in just a few areas which might be actually vital to the sport.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
