Brisbane's past fortnight has alarm bells sounding, after the dynastic Lions went down to Geelong by 41 points at the Gabba, before a disastrous outing against GWS raised eyebrows further.
The Giants piled on 14 goals in the third term, which ranks fourth all time for most points scored ever in a quarter, on the way to a 13-goal victory.
What's happened?
After a deep-dive into the stats behind the Lions' two-week demise, the conclusion is their defensive intent.
To the eye, Brisbane's midfield group and forward-half pressure has lacked against aggressive sides, which is the epitome of the Giants and Cats.
The pair went to school on the reigning premiers, providing the blueprint on how to knock off the kings of the jungle.
Brisbane largely set up for their own aggressive kick-mark game, but on the defensive end, they struggle to put an end to transition from defensive 50 to forward 50. The Cats and Giants exploited that.
It's been an issue throughout the entire season, but Geelong and GWS put it on the agenda for the whole competition to see.
Brisbane rank 17th for defending opposition ball movement from D50 to F50. According to WheeloRatings, which defines the metric as the 'proportion of all chains starting in the defensive 50 that resulted in an inside 50'; the Lions concede 29.3 per cent.
Only Essendon is worse (31.6) in defending opposition transition from one end to the other.
The poor defensive work translates to conceding scores (13.3), which is another blight on the Lions' poor start to the season. Again, only Essendon is worse (16.6).
In Round 10, Geelong scored 21.1 per cent of its scores from defensive 50, and was able to transition the ball on two of every five occasions from one end to the other.
Cats coach Chris Scott implemented a heavy handball game, encouraging his players to flick the ball around in close proximity, driving their legs out of contests before utilising the space out the back.
They recorded 181 handballs (to 223 kicks), which included an extra 142 metres gained by hand compared to Brisbane.
On Sunday, the Giants took the Cats' winning blueprint, and ran with it. Literally.
The Orange Tsunami, which has struggled in 2026, recorded a whopping 971 metres gained by hand. Their kick-to-handball ratio was almost equal, indicating the club's willingness to invite pressure by keeping the ball live.
It's a style that has troubled the Lions.
The upcoming match against Fremantle in front of the home crowd will be a litmus test for the back-to-back premiers, and will determine how worried Chris Fagan should be.
The Dockers have improved their handball game in 2026, leading to an impressive top-of-the-table standing after losing only once in 11 occasions.
