{"id":80530,"date":"2021-06-04T13:05:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T13:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=80530"},"modified":"2021-06-04T15:03:56","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:03:56","slug":"demons-expose-lions-great-vulnerability-in-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=80530","title":{"rendered":"Demons expose Lions' great 'vulnerability' in win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a> has used a scintillating second-half performance against fellow contenders Brisbane<\/a> to maintain its spot at the top of the AFL ladder.<\/p>\n

Brisbane enjoyed a strong first half and led by 20 points at the main change, before the Demons ran over the top in a dominant second half to win 14. 13. (97) to 11. 9. (75) at GIANTS Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After losing the contested possession count by 11 in the first half, Melbourne won it by 16 after the break, while also flipping the clearance differential from -18 to +10 and the Inside 50 differential from -14 to +17.<\/p>\n

St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt said Melbourne was able to get on top by speeding up the pace of the game to suit its runners in the second half.<\/p>\n

\"Kysaiah<\/p>\n

"There was an urgency," he told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

"Christian Petracca said they were boring in the first half and this was anything but boring.<\/p>\n

"It was good to watch and guess what, it put Brisbane under pressure defensively.<\/p>\n

"They would've known coming into the game, we can challenge Brisbane with our speed, but Brisbane didn't let them do that in the first half with the way they handled the ball, and Melbourne fell into it."<\/p>\n

Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown said Melbourne exposed what had been a long-standing chink in the armour of Chris Fagan's side.<\/p>\n

\"Zac<\/p>\n

"That's been their main vulnerability for the last few years," he said.<\/p>\n

"You can be critical of (Grant) Birchall and a few of the others, but it's not just him. They set up well as a team but they are vulnerable here. That's Brisbane's personnel and they live with that.<\/p>\n

"They provided enormous amount of heat on the contest in the first half, so that doesn't get exposed.<\/p>\n

"You're not going to go and throw two or three defenders out and put two or three defenders in, that's their game, they have to live with it, but they need to make sure contest work is a bit better."<\/p>\n

\"Zorko<\/p>\n

Brownlow Medal contenders Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver were central to the second-half turnaround, with Petracca finishing with 26 disposals and two goals, while Oliver had 26 disposals of his own.<\/p>\n

Up forward, Kysaiah Pickett and Tom McDonald both kicked three second-half goals, while Bayley Fristch was the Demons' other multiple goal-kicker.<\/p>\n

Brisbane's efforts were led by captain Dayne Zorko<\/a> (22 disposals) and Jarryd Lyons (28 disposals), while the returning Lachie Neale added 25 disposals. Zac Bailey was electric up forward for the Lions with four goals.<\/p>\n

However, Zorko could face scrutiny after he was reported for striking Tom McDonald in an altercation on the wing in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Melbourne will next be in action on Queen's Birthday against Collingwood at the SCG<\/a>, while Brisbane will enjoy a bye in Round 13.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne has used a scintillating second-half performance against fellow contenders Brisbane to maintain its spot at the top of the AFL ladder. Brisbane enjoyed a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80538,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80530\/revisions\/80538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}