Brisbane have suffered their largest ever loss to Gold Coast in the 29th Q-Clash, going down by 66 points in a startling upset at People's First Stadium.
While the loss isn't necessarily a shock to viewers, the size of the margin is certainly alarming. The Lions were dominated by the Suns superstar midfield, who they had previously held quiet in recent clashes, notably in Round 8 this year where Will Ashcroft, Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage won nearly as many clearances as Gold Coast won as a team (27 vs GC's 28).
The script was flipped this time around, however, with Matthew Rowell torching the Lions from stoppages with 15 clearances - a season-high - and 37 disposals, 23 of which were contested. He also recorded 10 score involvements and 12 tackles to earn the Marcus Ashcroft Medal.
The Suns would win the clearance battle 52-40 as a team and went +8 at centre bounces. Lions coach Chris Fagan spoke candidly post-game about how this crucial area was lost and why it cost Brisbane the game.
"It's not too simple to say [the game was lost in the midfield]. The Suns kicked 7.2 (44) from centre bounce and 13.6 (84) from stoppages. The turnover battle was quite even but the stoppage battle wasn't and that's where the game was won," Fagan said.
"They were clearly better than our midfield. It varies week to week, but they were terrific tonight, and they were the reason why they won the game. They are and have been a growing midfield over the last few years. They would have been after our scalp, and they got it today."
Fagan said it was "a game to forget" but is hopeful for a response from his group after the underwhelming display, similarly to how Gold Coast responded against them after being thumped by Adelaide in Round 19.
"Outside of the first ten minutes of the game, we had a game to forget in a way, we haven't played as poorly as that in a long, long time," Fagan said.
"Credit for that goes to the Gold Coast Suns, I'm not sitting and saying it was just us, but they were on and we were off and they capitalised on that.
"I look back at our games leading up to this game. In our last eight games we won six and lost two, and one was a very narrow loss to Adelaide in a game we probably should have won and similar to the Giants loss. Tonight, we were really poor in every facet of the game, to be honest."
This loss will sting for a while for Lions fans as they blew a great opportunity to steal the minor premiership from Collingwood when they meet next Saturday night at the MCG. With the Magpies almost a certainty to beat Richmond on Sunday, they'll reclaim a six-point margin between themselves and the Lions ahead of the Round 21 blockbuster, preventing Brisbane from jumping them in the standings, even if they lose.
