BRISBANE 10.19 (79) d GOLD COAST 6.9 (45)

KEY POINTS

LIONS LUCK RUNNING OUT
On one hand, the Lions will be taking this as a brave win against the odds. But in the longer view, the mood will be grim in the den this week. Losing key playmaker Keidean Coleman to an ACL injury in round one, then recruit Tom Doedee to a recurrence of the same injury when he was on the verge of making his debut for the club, sucked the wind from them early. By half-time of this game, they had the staggers. We’re yet to hear the result of scans to Lincoln McCarthy and Darcy Gardiner, of course, but when your knees buckle for no apparent reason, the news is rarely good. Gardiner, a veteran, has been used as a forward this year, but now the club’s defensive stocks are looking thin. They’ve lost Noah Answerth to concussion, and Brandon Starcevich will need scans on a calf injury suffered pregame. McCarthy has been the Lions’ best forward so far this season, ahead of a woefully out of form Charlie Cameron. For the first time in a long time, they’ll need to dig deeper into their list. We’re about to find out a bit about them.

SUNS DON’T SHINE
The Suns have failed to turn up, just when it looked like a new day was dawning for the club. These two local rivals are supposed to hate each other. You wouldn’t have guessed it watching the Suns performance tonight, which lacked intensity, workrate and hardness. It needs to be kept in some perspective: five Suns players had played 18 games between them — and coach Damien Hardwick didn’t blink — notably, he left Jed Walter on Harris Andrews all night. Andrews gave him a bath, but Walter’s massive kick from beyond 50 for his first goal late in the game showed why Hardwick is playing the long game with his youngest Suns.

GREAT DAYNE
Dayne Zorko has a bitter history in QClash games, especially in his frequent run-ins with Suns captain Touk Miller. On this night, the Lions veteran well and truly had the last laugh, playing a vintage game in an already very good season. He finished with 39 possessions, a career-high, including a remarkable 35 kicks; his workrate saw him rack up 16 marks; and he gained an astonishing 858 metres for his side. Thirty-two possessions were uncontested: again, that’s testament to workrate, although it also doesn’t reflect well on the Suns. Zorko’s game was only blotted by three behinds, in an otherwise ruthlessly efficient performance that won him the Marcus Ashcroft medal. For those playing at home, Champion Data awarded him a whopping 182 fantasy points. He was a star on what was, in many ways, a dark night for both clubs.

KEY STATS