Dire Start, Daring Finish: Lions Break the Cats....Again

Round 3, 2025: Brisbane Lions 10.10 70 defeated Geelong Cats 9.7 61 at The Gabba.

For a while, I thought the Round 3 Lions v Cats clash at the Gabba was once again proving to be a dire affair for Lions fans. 

At half time, the Lions looked poor, sloppy, and well off the pace – with maybe a handful of players worthy of praise, and many more of ridicule. The Cats had piled on five consecutive goals, and the Lions went to the main break 26 points adrift of a more clinical Geelong.

But a very strong third quarter by the team saw this group reeling in the Cats once again, eliciting feelings of déjà vu, as the Lions began to methodically chip away at the lead. Brisbane reverted to its highly controlled territory game and quickly got things back to level pegging.

In the end, the Lions comfortably dominated the Cats during the second half to walk away 9-point winners over a potential finals rival.

It sometimes wasn’t pretty, but once again this team proved it had the necessary fortitude to grind out a win. Those watching the game will have noted the extremely strong defensive performance that served as the springboard for success.

Let's once again look at how the player ratings came up.

Andrews, Payne, Wilmot, and Zorko took a massive 34 intercept possessions between them—25% of all intercepts in the match across both teams.

Zorko was once again superb, and his consistently excellent performances off half-back are becoming increasingly ridiculous to comprehend each week. Surely another All-Australian guernsey is in the offing this season.

Mimicking the tactical approach of Sydney a few weeks back, Chris Scott deployed Atkins on Neale, who once again had a quiet game by his lofty standards, finishing with 9 ratings points—6.4 points below his usual average.

But that doesn’t matter anymore! Because if you target Neale with the hard tag, McCluggage and Ashcroft will get you. Both midfielders had great games, with Hugh being solid throughout and leading the Lions in player ratings (20.5, +8.5 variance), and Will having a very strong second half (13.5 rating points, +3.2 variance).

Another pleasing sign was the introduction of Reville mid-way through the game, who provided a brilliant inside 50 to Logan Morris (who then scored), and then backed it up with a goal on the run. Reville finished with 10.1 ratings points for the game—outscoring Neale in the process.

One worrying sign continues to come through in the player rating statistics, with our tall setup once again failing to inspire. Both Day and Hipwood were mostly ineffective, and while the conditions weren't particularly great for the talls to go to work (Geelong's tall forwards were equally poor), question marks will be continued to be asked of Fagan's forward setup, particularly when we come up against some stronger defensive teams.

Fortunately, the likes of the returning Charlie Cameron and the resurrected good form of Zac Bailey helped cover up the blushes of our misfiring tall forward line. If our small and medium sized forwards can continue to fire, maybe we shouldn't be so concerned about the lack of goals from the talls?

On to MCG next week to face the rebuilding Richmond Tigers, our first return to the home of footy since the 2024 grand final. Let’s hope we can continue our current MCG streak and not get caught napping by a young team who will be eager to prove a point against the reigning premiers.

Also, before I sign off - thanks so much to all those who have signed up to the newsletter and who have said kind words on various Lions forums around the internet. Your continued support means I'll likely continue to write and analyse!