Brisbane Lions

Tom Hawkins kicked a goal to put Geelong clear late in the final term after appearing to push Harris Andrews in the back.

"They were a little bit worried about it, but a bit more optimistic that it's not a really serious one. "They had a lot of inside 50s, they had a lot of scoring opportunities," he said. "I think it's really validating for our young players to know they can get it done without him," he said. "We didn't play to the level we can, but the opposition have something to do with that." "Our blokes stuck at it, but our game didn't reach any high standard and a lot of that was due to Geelong's pressure. "I haven't had a chance to look at the replay, so it wouldn't be a good idea to say anything at this point in time."

Games between Geelong and Brisbane tend to be beauties, and now these two flag fancies meet in top form. Follow our live AFL ScoreCentre for all the scores, ...

Follow along for all the major moments and post-game reactions as Geelong takes on Brisbane.

But it was fantastic to be down here and get so many people here that have missed out in the last couple of years. but Geelong held steady and Tom Hawkins kicked five goals including and early last-term goal to make sure of the win. Absolutely. We want to score a bit more, and play with a bit more dash than perhaps we have previously. You have really changed the way you play this year. Yeah, we didn’t play to the level that we can, but the opposition have something to do with that. We’re probably going to forget this game by the end of the year but you have to chalk the wins up now, first to 12, then 15 then beyond. It does against the good teams. What was your message to the players? This has been a philosophy that really started for us in 2011 and it has sort of ebbed and flowed, depending on the priorities of our list, and it’s multifaceted but one of the principles is for us, we’re just not going to look at the opposition and try to predict which is a hard game and which isn’t. It’s pretty easy to predict this would be a hard game but we stuck to our plan, and there are some other circumstances, too, like Joel’s been a bit crook and a little bit off, and I think it’s really validating for our young players, in particular, to know that they can get it done without him. Do you think that had a bearing on the outcome? As he does, he was trying to will himself to get to the line, but he was pale as a ghost pre-game, and we just collectively, the medical staff and the coaching group decided we weren’t going to put him through that. It’s a difficult game to umpire.

Geelong toppled Brisbane in a thriller for the second time in two seasons at GMHBA Stadium tonight.