Brave Bombers fightback falls short in Lions’ den

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Brave Bombers fightback falls short in Lions’ den

Brisbane have held off an undermanned Essendon to avoid another Gabba meltdown in an 18-point AFL win.

The Lions led by 32 points and were humming before the Bombers, behind an immense third quarter from Jye Caldwell, surged back to lead in the final term.

Defending champions Brisbane avoided a repeat of their shock loss to Melbourne at the venue a fortnight ago though, escaping 13.12 (90) to 11.6 (72) on Thursday night.

It improved them to 9-2-1, Hugh McCluggage (career-high 41 disposals, 12 score involvements) starring again as Kai Lohmann (three goals) had his best game of an injury-marred season.

The Bombers came without injured trio Ben McKay, Zach Reid and Kyle Langford, debutant Zak Johnson and youngsters Archer Day-Wicks and Elijah Tsatas filling the void.

Nic Martin (29 disposals) kicked two brilliant goals while Caldwell (30 touches) had 18 disposals, seven clearances, one goal and a goal assist in the third quarter alone.

As they did against Melbourne a fortnight ago, the Lions started fluidly and tore through the middle of the Gabba at their leisure.

A 6.3 first term was built on punishment of every Bombers turnover as the Lions queued for goals.

Six consecutive behinds followed in the second term though, the hosts butchering chances that gave the Bombers life just as it did the Demons in their shock comeback win earlier this month.

Peter Wright kicked the first two of the quarter before Sam Durham, back on the ground after a ******-looking ankle roll, added another.

Logan Morris stopped the rot for the Lions with a 45-metre snap but the Bombers kept coming in a show-stopping third term.

Nate Caddy was influential in the air at both ends, his goal followed by a Caldwell major out of a stoppage a part of his prolific term.

Caddy should have had another but missed when he played on, Martin then nailing a second goal from the same pocket to make it a five-point game.

Scores were level when Caddy snapped a brilliant goal back over his head, before a pair of Lions majors gave them a 12-point buffer at the final break.

That was eroded inside three minutes though, ***** Gresham snapping truly and Todd Goldstein finding space from a clever squaring assist.

They hit the front for the first time with a behind before Morris put Brisbane back in front and Lohmann skipped through another from 50 metres into an open goal.

Noah Answerth was the unlikely match-sealer, the defender’s long-range goal with three minutes remaining icing the contest.

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