Brisbane have bounced back from last week's AFL thumping by Carlton to thrash Hawthorn by 67 points at the Gabba.
Led by Kai Lohmann's five-goal haul on Friday night, the premiers stayed firmly in the top four hunt with a convincing 18.17 (125) to 8.10 (58) win over the third-placed Hawks.
The victory was a perfect response to the 76-point loss to the Blues as the Lions celebrated a double milestone night with Jarrod Berry making his 200th AFL appearance while veteran defender Ryan Lester marking his 250th AFL game with a late goal that delighted the sell-out crowd
Defeat for Sam Mitchell's team ends a four-game winning run ahead of next weekend's clash with Collingwood at the MCG and will raise questions heading into the finals about their genuine premiership credentials
In a week in which his own visit to Magpies HQ was a focus, Lachie Neale was a standout for the Lions with 35 disposals, seven marks, eight tackles and six clearances.
As well as Lohmann, the Lions had four multiple goalkickers with Logan Morris kicking four majors in the first half, Charlie Cameron booting three and Eric Hipwood scored two including a booming third-quarter shot from well outside 50.
Will Ashcroft had a game-high 39 disposals including 13 score involvements while Harris Andrews delivered another defensive masterclass, snaffling 10 marks as the Hawks forward line struggled to get clean ball all night.
The Hawks though were also guilty of missing crucial chances in the opening two quarters with Harry Morrison and Sam Butler both offending as the Lions surged into a winning position.
The hosts were only six clear at the end of the first term but scored three quickfire goals at the start of the second to break the game open and never looked back, the Hawks unable to mount any meaningful resistance
.In the end Jack Gunston finished with three majors while Josh Ward had 28 disposals but it was a disappointing night for the Hawks who were simply second-best across the park.
"That's probably been our most complete four-quarter performance this year," Lions coach Chris Fagan said. "We won every quarter on the scoreboard.
"We have had a little bit of a tendency to have a lazy quarter, particularly if we're on top in a game, but tonight we pressed home the advantage and came away with a good win and a bit of percentage, which might prove important."
Hawks coach Mitchell made no excuses but also felt the defeat was simply a case of his team failing to perform against one of the competition's best on the day.
"We saw it as an opportunity to compete against the best, and we weren't up to it tonight," Mitchell said."But I think we're better than that.
"We can execute better than that and play to a higher level, and we're going to need to."
