BRISBANE gained valuable bragging rights over Melbourne in a Round 11 clash of heavyweights in what could very well end up one of the qualifying finals in under a fortnight’s time. The Lions made it half a dozen wins on the trot, but it was really the litmus test for the reigning grand finalists who only beat bottom seven sides in the other five wins.

Coach Craig Starcevich said the victory over the second placed Dees was “up there” in terms of all-time wins, knocking off the side largely considered the biggest threat to North Melbourne’s stranglehold on the competition, and in the process, stamping their ticket into a qualifying final.

“That’s one of our better wins and to get three behind at half-time and come back strongly in the third quarter and finish it off at the end, that was pretty impressive,” he said.

Up until half-time the Lions has struggled to capitalise on their forward half dominance, kicking 1.7 from eight scoring shots, while the Dees had converted four goals from one less scoring shot. Conceding just one more goal for the remainder of the game, Brisbane roared to life after the main break kicking 5.2 themselves and getting the “nourishment” deserving of a performance like that.

“Coming into half-time we were up in a lot of key metrics,” Starcevich said. “More inside 50s, more scoring shots, more of a lot, without getting the result. “So you would have hated the group go through that game and not get any… ‘nourishment”s the buzz word, but getting as bit of nourishment for your work is pretty important. “If you had of put all that work in and not being able to capitalise that would have been really disappointing.”

When asked about the importance of grabbing four points against another contender, Starcevich said it was “absolutely” important, and good to see where they sit in the race for the biggest threat to the Roos.

“Apart from the Adelaide game back in Round 4, we haven’t really played too many others in that part of the ladder so but we haven’t done well either,” he said. “But at this time of the year, absolutely its important and the speed of the game in the first half was probably the quickest AFLW game I’ve been around. I don’t know how it rated with you guys, but it looked like it was lightning fast.”

Melbourne coach Mick Stinear concurred with Starcevich’s thoughts that it was one of the most intense games he had witnessed.

“Disappointed we lost still, but reflecting holistically on the game, Brisbane deserved to win,” Stinear said. “They jumped us at the start, they put on a great event tonight, being a good celebration of women’s footy, we would have loved to be on the other side of it.

“It’s a spot on comment, that felt like finals footy, a really good lesson for us. “We’ll be a better team from tonight. “There’s a few key areas we need to sharpen up on, but well done to Brisbane, they deserve the win tonight.”

Assuming both Brisbane and Melbourne win in Round 12 against Collingwood and Geelong respectively on the road, and North Melbourne knock off second placed Hawthorn, the Dees and Lions will meet in a quarter final, though at the former’s home deck.