Lions keep control of second spot with Blues win, but lose defender

The Lions roll on, with their 12th win of the season – and that handy draw means they hold their spot for another round.

For the Blues, the losses continue but there were positives to take from the game.

We’ll be back again tomorrow night with a mouth-watering matchup between Gold Coast and Collingwood at a sold-out Carrara.

The Magpies will go in as deserved favourites, but the Suns will fancy their chances in a game being tagged by some as the most important in the club’s history.

Join us on the blog for that one, but in the meantime, this is Andrew McGarry saying good night.

Michael Voss has spoken to the media after the game, and was focused on the internals of his team rather than the outside noise.

Asked about the pressure on his position, he said:

“The pressure only comes from my own expectations of how we want to play and being dialled in to what that looks like for our players.

“The eyes are well and truly in,” he said.

“We’ve got a job to do for next six or seven weeks that’s what we intend to do.”

Voss said that errors had cost his side.

“There was an intent to start the game well, in the main we did.

“In the first half it was errors and inefficiency that cost us.

“When you give a team like that that much time on the ball and territory, the inevitable usually happens.”

Carlton’s horror run has continued with a 37-point loss to the Brisbane Lions as embattled coach Michael Voss desperately seeks to release a pressure valve.

The Blues went goalless for a 40-minute period from late in the second quarter and the reigning premiers romped to a 15.13 (103) to 9.12 (66) victory at Docklands on Thursday night.

Brisbane’s Josh Dunkley (28 disposals, 13 tackles) was awarded the inaugural Robert Walls Medal, struck in honour of the dual-club great, who died in May.

The only sore point for the Lions (12-4-1) was Noah Answerth’s left achilles injury, which led to the defender’s substitution before halftime.

Lachie Neale (31 disposals), Dayne Zorko (28) and Will Ashcroft (28) were all influential and Charlie Cameron (three majors) led a group of 11 Brisbane goal-kickers.

A fourth straight loss poured more heat on Carlton and Voss in a tough period for the under-fire coach, who was the subject of a death threat last week.

The Blues trailed 20-0 after just nine minutes in a poor start headlined by one comical passage of play.

A Nick Haynes kick fell in Cam Rayner’s lap when target Lachie Cowan collided with umpire Andrew Heffernan, and Rayner set up a Charlie Cameron goal.

The inside-50 count at one point was 14-2 in Brisbane’s favour before the Blues worked their way into the contest.

Marc Pittonet gave them a lift with a 60-metre barrel that sailed through after the quarter-time siren, and the Lions led 5.4 to 3.3.

Pittonet was then part of the defence that bizarrely failed to touch a Will Ashcroft shot on the goal line in the second term, but responded by kicking his second major.

That and a 50-metre penalty against Zac Bailey, which gifted Patrick Cripps a goal, helped the Blues trim the margin to 12 points.

But defender Matt Carroll was twice caught in possession, directly leading to a pair of Brisbane goals, as they widened the gap in the blink of an eye.

A 30-point buffer at halftime grew to 52 by the final change as the Blues lost Orazio Fantasia to a hamstring injury and conceded a run of seven consecutive goals.

Carlton captain Cripps (26 disposals, nine clearances) and George Hewett (33, nine) battled against the tide, while spearhead Charlie Curnow went goalless for a fourth straight week.

Tom De Koning, who is weighing up a huge contract offer from St Kilda, received Bronx cheers from Blues fans and finished with one goal from 14 disposals playing predominantly in attack.

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The Brisbane Lions have given an energetic rendition of the club song in the rooms, preceded by a loud cry of “Queenslander!”.

Perhaps there are a few guys who watched that impressive State of Origin win by the Maroons last night!

• Rd 19: vs Melbourne (MCG)

• Rd 21: vs Fremantle (Perth Stadium)

• Rd 22: vs Sydney (Docklands)

• Rd 19: vs Western Bulldogs (Gabba)

• Rd 20: vs Gold Coast (Carrara)

• Rd 21: vs Collingwood (MCG)

The best-on-ground award is named in honour of the late former Carlton and Brisbane coach Robert Walls Medal.

Walls won the flag with Carlton in 1987, and coached the Brisbane Bears from 1991 to 1995.

The award goes to Josh Dunkley, and fair enough, he did big work tonight, with 28 disposals and 13 tackles.

The game is over, and the result has not been in doubt for some time, but fair play to Carlton, who won the final quarter by three goals to none.

That if nothing else will please Michael Voss.

Considering where this could have gone, 37 points is not a terrible result.

You got the feeling that the Lions always had another gear or two they could go to, in the end they didn’t need it.

They will be concerned about the injury to Noah Answerth, who is on crutches on the sideline talking to coach Chris Fagan.

Brisbane is cemented in the top two, now it’s up to the rest of the top eight to pick each other apart this round – the Lions are in a good spot.

The zip has definitely gone out of this one, but Carlton are still trying.

They put the pressure on inside 50 and after a number of chips around, settled on Zac Williams’s mark.

But the Blues man skewed his kick (familiar, anyone?) and Carlton register their 12th behind of the night.

The ball went forward for Brisbane, and Jesse Motlop handballed the ball through from about 10m.

It was called by the umpires, but Zac Bailey missed the kick.

We’re in time on, and the lead is 39 points.

A couple of behinds from Eric Hipwood and Logan Morris keep the lead to 37 points.

We are nearly halfway through the final quarter, and this is not going any direction but one as far as the win goes.

But if the Lions can’t sharpen up in front of goal or the Blues kick a couple more, this will come out as a pass mark of sorts for Carlton. They are fighting this out well.

Carlton still coming here. They get the ball to Mitch McGovern inside 50 – he’s playing a more attacking role tonight as the night’s gone on – and he kicks the Blues’ third in a row.

The lead is back to 35 points.

The Blues are not giving it away here – it’s not going to change the result, but it’s still a positive.

A stoppage on the edge of 50 led to Lachie Cowan chipping perfectly to hit George Hewett.

Hewett went back and kicked it, that’s back-to-back goals.

Better play from Carlton there!

The Lions are trying to surge through the middle, but that time their accuracy was off.

The Blues rebounded, and Zac Williams produced a great kick for Tom De Koning inside 50.

The Carlton big man’s kick snuck inside the right hand goal post, and the Blues get one back.

That pressure is there right from the bounce in the final term.

Brisbane is still bringing it, even with a 50-plus point lead.

They go forward and Carlton’s defence gives away a free to Charlie Cameron.

He kicks for goal – bit it goes wide.

The lead is 53.

One stat at 3QT (well, two): Brisbane has 58 tackles to 50 for Carlton.

But for tackles inside 50, it’s Brisbane 19, Carlton 7.

The siren sounds as Brisbane is attacking once more.

Relief for Carlton, but only momentary. A look at the scoreboard shows 4.2 to 0.4 in that quarter, and the Lions have kicked the last seven goals of the match.

Is this another second half fade out from the Blues, or are Brisbane just that good? Bit of both, perhaps.

What can Carlton do for coach Michael Voss in this final term? We’ll see in a few minutes.

This is like rinse and repeat here for Brisbane.

They get the ball on the wing, go long to hit Kai Lohmann on the right side, edge of 50.

He whirls and kicks a bullet pass to deep in the pocket, where Cam Rayner takes the mark near the boundary.

And he kicks it! What a great round the corner snap.

The lead is over 50, the Lions have nearly hit 100 points before three quarter time.

The Blues are fighting for every inch in attack.

They created something there with repeat attacks, and Mitch Mc Govern chipped to hit Lachie Fogarty 25m out in front.

But the Blues forward hit the post!

That has to be going through. It’s a 46-point game.