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 an 11-point AFL victory over Melbourne.
The Lions had been main by 40 factors with about 13 minutes remaining within the remaining time period on Friday evening when a surge plunged the Brisbane stadium into darkness, aside from a lone bulb in a light-weight tower that was on hearth.
Sufficient gentle returned earlier than the 60-minute minimize off that will have handed Brisbane victory.
The hosts finally prevailed 14.9 (93) to 13.4 (82), with a sigh of reduction after flatly conceding 5 unanswered targets as soon as play resumed.
In weird scenes, the gamers had stood on the bottom for a number of minutes earlier than heading inside as energy slowly returned to the bottom.
Gamers reappeared about 30 minutes after the outage to heat up – and all of the sudden they had been again underway.
It was a complicated sequence of occasions however not the primary time it is occurred on the Gabba, with a Massive Bash League fixture in 2019 ended early by an influence outage.
The MCG scoreboard caught hearth in 1999 whereas in 1996 disgruntled followers lit fires on the floor and within the stands of Waverley Park when a blackout pressured St Kilda and Essendon’s conflict to be accomplished every week later.
Going, going, Gawn
There have been contrasting scenes on the Gabba, although, as 30,047 cheery followers broke into track ready for a resumption.
Earlier the Lions, nonetheless smarting after a first-round hiding from Port Adelaide, shot out of the gates with six first-quarter targets whereas Demons star Max Gawn left the sport with a knee damage.
The ruckman chopping a devastated determine and can wait on scans hoping for no long-term damage.
Steven Might was a pre-game scratcher and the Lions went in for the kill, Melbourne’s second-quarter resistance blown aside with two early third-quarter targets that seemed to have sealed a win for Chris Fagan’s aspect.
Brisbane upset the Demons in final 12 months’s semi-final and Fagan was eager to point out it was no “fluke”, particularly after their slack Adelaide Oval effort final Saturday.
Enjoying at half-forward, Dayne Zorko (22 touches, two targets, eight inside 50s, 4 tackles) confirmed how necessary he stays to Brisbane after lacking spherical one, whereas Cam Rayner was electrical in protection and Will Ashcroft (31 touches) in midfield jewel in his second AFL recreation.
Brisbane blew the Demons aside within the clearances, successful 60-32.
Lions’ explosive targets
Early stress from Jarrod Berry – who left the sphere late with an obvious shoulder damage – helped prohibit Clayton Oliver to 1 first-half clearance, however he nonetheless completed with 37 disposals.
Ben Brown (three targets) and Bailey Fritsch took their possibilities to get the Demons again inside 20 factors within the second quarter, however fast Charlie Cameron and Joe Daniher targets to start out the second half snuffed them out.
Zorko’s working objective – his second – made it a 39-point recreation and, after two Demons targets, Lincoln McCarthy chimed in to shut the quarter.
Groups went goal-for-goal early however the Lions exploded late within the first quarter, notching 14-straight inside 50s and producing 4 targets.
With the forlorn Gawn icing his knee within the dressing room, Zorko, Ashcroft, Oscar McInerney and Daniher all hit the scoreboard to create an early 25-point lead.
-AAP
