AFL 2020 qualifying final: Brisbane v Richmond – live!

Q2: 7 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 5.1 (31) Richmond – Some class from McCluggage creates a rare opportunity at the other end but his nimble footwork ends with an errant handball and Cameron is bundled into touch. The Lions keep going though, Berry then Bailey – and the kick is on for McInerney – but it’s weak and the mark can’t be taken. Huge opportunity missed.

Q2: 8 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 5.1 (31) Richmond – It’s like watching a boa constrictor curl itself around a capybara the way Richmond are just squeezing the life out of Brisbane. Can the Lions resist? They are doing just enough to deny the clean entry inside-50 and continue to spoil the marking contest.

Q2: 9 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 5.1 (31) Richmond – the Tigers are coming. The quality of possession hasn’t been pure but the momentum is all with the visitors and they’re starting to dominate territory and generate wave after wave of pressure. Brisbane’s ability to defend the to of the square is keeping them afloat, and their midfield remains hungry for the tackle.

Q2: 11 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 5.1 (31) Richmond – McInerney has been outstanding so far, in the ruck, tackling like vintage Jude Bolton, and spoiling in the air in defence. He nails another Tiger holding the ball, but Zorko takes advantage and butchers the kick forward. Brisbane cannot afford to be so profligate.

Q2: 12 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 5.1 (31) Richmond – A rare scrappy couple of minutes with both sides hacking aimless turnover kicks. Castagna bucks the trend with an excellent mark on centre wing, then kicking to the top of the square. Brisbane’s tall defenders continue their sound defensive work.

Q2: 14 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 5.1 (31) Richmond – Come on guys, give me chance to type a coherent sentence! Richmond win the centre clearance, the ball goes forward, Castagna goals. Martin was involved again (natch).

The pressure from both sides is extraordinary.

Q2: 15 mins remaining: Brisbane 4.1 (25) v 4.1 (25) Richmond – Hot footy early, as you’d expect, but Brisbane do well to earn first use then force Richmond to cough up under pressure defensively. And who do they cough it up to? Charlie Cameron, and he skips his way into space and drills the goal from 40m out on the run. Nice hands from Rayner with the assist too.

I hate these poxy SAS Australia adverts interrupting the footy. Schapelle Corby, give me a break.

But – how about an SOS Australia, featuring the Silvagnis and Marshs in a Battle Royale? You know that’d make for better telly.

Q1: 1 mins remaining: Brisbane 3.1 (19) v 4.1 (25) Richmond – Martin has been imperious in the middle but his latest clearance win is chopped off by Rich, who has also started brightly. Neale, by contrast, has donuts on his stats sheet.

Q1: 3 mins remaining: Brisbane 3.1 (19) v 4.1 (25) Richmond – A rare couple of phases of chip and mark from both sides, first Brisbane again profiting down the left, then Richmond piecing their way out of defence. That methodical approach is turbocharged with a 50m penalty, sending them downfield and a kick away from a shot. That duly arrived with McIntosh the free man just inside the arc. Of course he goals. Of course. Threading the needle from range like it’s a stroll around Punt Road.

Q1: 5 mins remaining: Brisbane 3.1 (19) v 3.1 (19) Richmond – Stop it. Stop it. This is too good. Martin is majestic weaving his way through traffic following the centre bounce. His clearance goes miles and within seconds the Tigers are level, Cotchin the finisher, wriggling out of a tackle then slapping a mighty left-footed snap from unforgiving field position.

There must be some coaches of non-finalists watching this and weeping. This is a high standard of footy.

Q1: 6 mins remaining: Brisbane 3.1 (19) v 2.1 (13) Richmond – All we haven’t seen so far tonight is a big hanger. McStay sees to that, leaping highest in a big pack to pull the Sherrin out of the night sky. He goes back and honours the leap with a firm finish.

The start of that move was yet another brilliant free-kick winning tackle in midfield. This has been a tackling clinic from both sides so far.

Q1: 7 mins remaining: Brisbane 2.1 (13) v 2.1 (13) Richmond – Chol should mark and goal in point-blank range but his mitts fail him. Not to worry, the Tigers apply that extraordinary pressure, deny the Lions an escape route and on the rebound Baker smashes a goal home from just inside-50 on the run. This is a fast high-quality game of footy. Both teams are on.

Q1: 8 mins remaining: Brisbane 2.1 (13) v 1.1 (7) Richmond – Lovely build-up from Brisbane. First the switch across defence from right to left, then the play on from Birchall who drills a superb long pass to McCarthy. He plays on and finds hipwood on the lead. Can the king of the yips continue Brisbane’s flawless start? No. He fades one wide from range near the boundary.

Q1: 9 mins remaining: Brisbane 2.0 (12) v 1.1 (7) Richmond – This is a shootout. Riewoldt almost replies instantly for the second time tonight but his left-footed snap hits the post after Nankervis gained yardage following a ruck infringement from Stefan Martin.

Not long afterwards Brisbane are awarded their second 50m penalty of the quarter with D Martin penalised for interfering with S Martin then playing on after the whistle.

The Lions are on defensively tonight. Robinson is the latest to nail an eye-catching tackle, this time dispossessing Vlaustin on the burst.

Q1: 11 mins remaining: Brisbane 2.0 (12) v 1.0 (6) Richmond – McInerney has started superbly in the ruck, dominating hitouts and laying tackles, the latest on Bolton forcing a turnover in the centre circle then leading to a 50m penalty in his favour. At the compact Gabba that walks him inside-50, from where he lopes in and splits the big sticks with the minimum of fuss.

Q1: 12 mins remaining: Brisbane 1.0 (6) v 1.0 (6) Richmond – That felt like a crucial passage of play. Brisbane get too cute coming out of defence and Martin pounces on the turnover thumping a pass to Riewoldt on the lead. The Tiger talisman clunks the mark goes back and boots the leveller from 48m. Who needs Tom Lynch?

Q1: 13 mins remaining: Brisbane 1.0 (6) v 0.0 (0) Richmond – Both teams have enjoyed some decent possession since that early strike, Richmond calmly manoeuvring through the corridor, Brisbane hacking at pace down the left wing, but both sides have failed to find a killer pass with the Lions backline enjoying early aerial superiority.

Q1: 15 mins remaining: Brisbane 1.0 (6) v 0.0 (0) Richmond – Ha! The opening bounce is a shocker, so it’s an early ball-up, won easily by Brisbane who get rolling immediately. The long hit downfield goes to hands and the ball is smartly played along the arc for a mark in just-about gettable range. Hang on – who’s that coming off the long run!? Only Daniel Rich! And he takes the offload like a steam train and hammers the opening goal from 55m out to the delight of the Gabba crowd. What a way to start the game. Goal-kicking yips, what goal-kicking yips?

Who will join Port Adelaide in the prelims? Let’s find out…

It’s welcome to country and anthem time. A sheepish Damien Hardwick only just makes it to the line-up in time for “Australians…” after dashing across the turf in his dress shoes. Wonder what was holding him up?

Ooof! I almost miss-sipped my latte. That is fighting talk Ragazzo. On your head below the line be it.

Port Adelaide were good last night, weren’t they? Super fun to watch playing with both ferocity and discipline. They’re going to be hard to stop with this momentum.

Boos greet Richmond’s appearance onto a pristine-looking Gabba. The Tigers are in their traditional black guernsey with yellow sash, accompanied tonight by white shorts.

I say boos, by the time the club song piped through the tannoy reaches the famous “yellow and black” there’s plenty of audible feedback from the stands. The Tiger Army is well represented in the northern states.

La Marseillaise reverberates around southern Queensland, which can mean only one thing. No, not revolution, the Brisbane Lions are running out to play a game of footy.

Brisbane are in their familiar maroon outfits with gold trim. They have around 24,000 fans on hand to cheer them on.

Conditions in Queensland are glorious. It is warm, still and dry, but as we know, the crucial factor up here in these night games is the humidity and that pesky dew.

To give you an insight into my state of mind today, I have spent WAY too long racking my brains to find this, ultimately underwhelming clip. I was riffing on the Lion v Tiger theme as a rhetorical device, then I recalled the 1980s cartoon ThunderCats had characters based on a Lion and a Tiger. Then I remembered there was this epic sequence of episodes when the Lion character – the leader and hereditary Lord of the ThunderCats – had to demonstrate he could defeat all the characters under his wing at their specialist disciplines. Still with me? Well, this is the conclusion of the episode where Lion-O proves he has superior mind control to Tyrga (the nominal second in command and troupe scientist and architect).

No, it was not worth the effort.

The major selection news for the Tigers was signalled some time ago with spearhead Tom Lynch ruled out of tonight’s clash with a hamstring injury. There’s better news elsewhere though with Dion Prestia returning for the first time since round five and Shai Bolton slotting back in after missing last time out with a corkie.

Other than Lynch, the injured Ivan Soldo is probably the only other name missing from Richmond’s best 22.

What have Richmond got to do? Same as they have for most of the past four years, and apply the most terrifying pressure in footy history and revel in the chaos it creates. Without Lynch there’s an extra goal-kicking and line-leading burden for Jack Riewoldt, but that’s probably just how he’s want it to be.

B: David Astbury, Dylan Grimes, Noah Balta
HB: Bachar Houli, Nick Vlastuin, Liam Baker
C: Kamdyn McIntosh, Jack Graham, Marlion Pickett
HF: Shai Bolton, Dustin Martin, Jason Castagna
F: Daniel Rioli, Mabior Chol, Jack Riewoldt
Foll: Toby Nankervis, Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards
I/C: Jayden Short, Dion Prestia, Kane Lambert, Jake Aarts

When Harris Andrews ended round 15 with ice on his hamstring his season looked in doubt, but just a month later arguably the competition’s premier defender is back to take on the Tigers. Jarrod Berry has also proved his fitness after a couple of weeks out with a shoulder injury, meaning Chris Fagan has pretty much a full-strength squad to select from, so it must be assumed this is his preferred 22.

There’s no slicing and dicing strategy and structure trying to work out what Brisbane need to do tonight, it has been staring them in the face for many a long month – kick straight. The Lions have butchered a combined 12.34 in their past two outings against Richmond and poor kicking for goal has dogged their otherwise impressive recent resurgence.

Dayne Zorko didn’t shirk the issue during his press call earlier this week, indicating his team was ready for any sledging coming their way from Richmond and also mentally steeling themselves for performing under pressure. “We’ve been throwing a little bit of lip on the mark,” he said. “I think it comes even harder when it’s your teammates throwing it at you, you can get a little more personal. The boys have responded very well to that. I’m really confident they’ve done the work now.”

B: D.Rich, D.Gardiner, H.Andrews
HB: Z.Bailey, R.Lester, G.Birchall
C: H.McCluggage, M.Robinson, C.Ah Chee
HF: D.Zorko, D.McStay, C.Rayner
F: O.McInerney, E.Hipwood, C.Cameron
FOLL: S.Martin, J.Lyons, L.Neale
I/C: J.Berry, L.McCarthy, K.Coleman, B.Starcevich