Brisbane looked less than leonine in the opening term of their preliminary final. They were tentative, reactive and in serious danger of being blown off the Gabba. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. Nathan Brown, Sportsbet’s “market analyst” (I ask you…) reminded us thrice hourly that the Lions were warm favourites. Their ground was a fortress. Their opponent was supposedly banged up.
But for 25 minutes, that was bunk. The Lions were rickety, the Blues were in irresistible touch and Robbie Williams was warming up the vocal cords. If not for the furious fisting of Harris Andrews, it could have been an insurmountable Carlton lead.
