The “out of this world” stats that led to Brisbane collapse – SEN

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan admits he was quite taken aback with the way Geelong put their foot down in the third quarter of last nights clash at the SCG.
The Lions appeared to be in complete control during the second term only to concede seven straight third-quarter goals to the Cats in the 27-point loss.
Fagans side was beaten 109-130 in contested possessions, the first time they had lost that stat line since their opening round defeat to Hawthorn, and it all came down to the third quarter where the Cats midfield smacked them to the tune of +23 contested possessions.
The Lions were also -46 for disposals, -8 in clearances and -8 for inside 50s in the third term, numbers that had Fagan awestruck.
The stats about contested possession, clearances and centre bounce clearances in the third quarter were just out of this world for Geelong, Fagan said post-match.
They played a fantastic quarter of football.
Ive got to admit I didnt see that coming. I thought at half-time we had been the better side in the first half and didnt take enough of our chances.
It was the collective group of Geelong midfielders that dominated clearance and contested possession. That hasnt happened to us in a long, long time and it did tonight.
Fagan continued: I think they were plus 23 in the third quarter for contested possession so if youre not winning the ball at the source, its difficult to bring other tactics in that can change the course of the game.
We just needed to get our hands on the footy to slow the game down a little bit but we couldnt get our hands on the ball.
Its hard to comprehend when its one the strengths of our team. It was so out of the ordinary for our blokes to play like that in the third quarter. You look at the other three quarters and in those key areas we were competitive or just in front of our opposition.
It was just an astonishing third quarter by Geelong and all credit to them. We will learn a lot from that third quarter I should imagine.
Fagan further tipped his hat to Chris Scotts side who he expects to be this weeks rave team after the Lions received plenty of adulation following their dethroning of last weeks top side Port Adelaide.
I thought we played some pretty good football in the second quarter last week and it was their turn to do it in the third, he said.
It just goes to show you how even the competition is. Last week, because we were able to beat Port who were on top of the ladder, we became the rave team this week. I think weve just handed the baton onto Geelong the way they played tonight.
The third-placed Lions with a 4-2 record will look to atone for their second defeat of the season when they meet fellow premiership fancies GWS at Giants Stadium next Saturday.

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