Aaron Cornelius booted a swag of goals to lead Brisbane to a three-point NAB Cup win over GWS. Source: Getty Images
BRISBANE produced a great escape to beat GWS in Wagga Wagga last night and keep their hopes of a NAB Cup title alive.
Lions forward Sam Michael won a free kick in the goalsquare in the dying minutes and converted the easy chance to hand Brisbane a 1.12.19 (100) to 2.12.7(97) victory in front of 7,068 spectators at a packed Robertson Oval.
The nail-biting victory sets up a mouth-watering clash with Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
If the Lions beat the Magpies they will almost certainly qualify for the NAB Cup decider, but they will need to improve.
Lions forward Aaron Cornelius kicked five goals and four behinds for Brisbane while Partick Karnezis had a game-high 26 possessions in a topsy-turvy encounter that saw nine lead changes.
GWS was the better side for most of the night and showed its promising efforts against Sydney and Carlton in the opening round of the NAB Cup last weekend were no flash in the pan.
The Giants led by nine points deep into the last term but were never able to land the killer blow.
"It was a disappointing result. That's the second time in two weeks we've lost a game where we were beaten by a kick. We should have been able to lock the game up," GWS coach Kevin Sheedy said.
"It's an art in itself, the art of winning."
To Brisbane's credit, they kept coming and coming and eventually were able to run over the top of the gallant Giants.
The Lions rested first-choice stars Daniel Rich, Daniel Merrett, Andrew Raines and Ash McGrath for the trip and appeared to be paying the price as the young Giants refused to buckle in a tense contest.
Both Matthew Leuenberger and Josh Green had shots at goal to put Brisbane in front in the closing stages of the match but missed to seemingly condemn the Lions to defeat.
But Michael's hard-won free kick and the outstanding work of Cornelius and Karnezis enabled the Lions to roar home.
"We were just sloppy," Brisbane coach Michael Voss said.
"The Giants cracked in really hard early and we got fumbly early, which put us on the back foot.
"We had to make up the ground for the rest of the game.
"Last year, we would have lost those games so they are starting to learn how to win tough and sometimes you've got to be able to do that. It's about winning habits. We want to make sure that we instill those."
GWS led by one point going into the final term and went further ahead when ball magnet Toby Greene kicked truly, only for the Lions to respond through Cornelius.
But a nine-point supergoal to Devon Smith gave the Giants valuable breathing room before a goal to rookie Marco Paparone narrowed the margin and set up a thrilling finish.
Injury was added to insult for GWS when Giants star Jonathon Patton went crashing to the turf midway through the second term.
Patton sent a scare through the Giants camp when he had to be assisted from the field by two trainers appearing to be in considerable pain.
But GWS breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was revealed that the the 2011 No.1 draft pick had suffered a bad cork to his right leg and was able to hobble to the dressing room at half-time under his own steam.
Teammate Nathan Wilson suffered a suspected AC joint injury.
Adam Treloar had a team-high 21 touches for the Giants and kicked two goals while Jeremy Cameron booted a supergoal and one regulation major for GWS.
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