IN THE blink of an eye, the MCG went Kai-boom.

Kai Lohmann had turned important finals before. Brisbane's peroxide prince had earned Norm Smith Medal votes in 2024. He'd done his fair share as the Lions made it two straight flags on Grand Final day in 2025 as well. But he had never swung a September showdown quite like this before.

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His third-quarter performance, amid a seven-goal surge that struck the Lions into life and changed the complexion of a twilight thriller, was fairy book stuff. Seven disposals, five score involvements, three goals, and an injection of energy that sparked a previously static Brisbane back into action.

It was therefore fitting that, amid the controversy, the chaos and the chorus of confusion and cups swarming the 'G as the game ticked towards its drama-filled finale, it was Kai that had the football in his hands as the last bell rang to send Brisbane to another Grand Final.

So much happened in that remarkable last quarter – 12 goals, four lead changes, umpiring calls, moments of brilliance, flashes of inspiration – that it became easy to forget that Lohmann's hand in the third term was the first of the momentum flippers. It was Kai that started the commotion.

The Lions had been on the canvas in Saturday afternoon's preliminary final, both literally and figuratively. After their talisman, Lachie Neale, was floored by a brutal Jai Newcombe bump barely a second in, the Hawks then took to battering the competition's reigning back-to-back premier around the park.

Lohmann was barely a bystander as Hawthorn raced into a commanding 22-point advantage. He didn't have a single disposal at quarter-time, looked even further away from hitting the scoreboard, and was one of many problems for Chris Fagan to solve as the game continued to get away from the visitors.

It was getting desperate for Lohmann, who looked lost amid the action. Perhaps even the umpires sensed that. Long before the officials made another defining call in the last 90 seconds of the encounter, they had made one just as speculative in the final moments of the first half.

Bailey Macdonald collected ball, but also a slight graze of Lohmann's bleached blonde hair, as the Lions forward led strongly at the carrier. He won a high contact free and dutifully took all that was given to him in converting the resulting set-shot. It was a goal that didn't just kickstart Brisbane, it kickstarted Kai.

As Brisbane closed the gap to four points midway through the third quarter, Lohmann marked strongly while wedged between his stopper and the behind post. He then wheeled around, snapped truly, and put the Lions in front. His celebration, screaming towards the fans behind him, told the story.

Then came the two-minute double moments later. First, he ran down Hawthorn's Jarman Impey and won a holding-the-ball free kick. He celebrated loudly before he'd even taken the shot, a sign that his resulting effort from beyond 50m wasn't going anywhere but straight through.

Another streaming move then saw Cam Rayner take a bounce and spot up a wide open Lohmann as he sneakily got in behind his marker. Despite being hemmed in tight against the boundary, deep inside the forward pocket, you knew Lohmann was always converting. Indeed, he did.

Lohmann's three-goal third term came as Brisbane kicked seven straight at one point, providing the Lions with a buffer that would prove all-important when the Hawks charged back into the contest with an unlikely late rally. It was also a reminder of the value in taking your chances.

Hawthorn had kicked three straight behinds, all of them gettable, before Lohmann's arrival. It would have given Sam Mitchell's side a 32-point buffer immediately after half-time, one that was far more commanding than the 17-point lead they did hold as Brisbane soared back into the game amid its star man's heroics.

The final quarter was all-action. In a 253-point heavyweight bout, Hawthorn delivered five straight goals and seven in total in the last term. Brisbane, for its part, kicked another five of its own. Hugh McCluggage laid the tackle on Impey, paid holding the ball to the letter of the law, before Lohmann added his fifth.

That came after Will Ashcroft surged from the middle, as the Lions won a decisive centre clearance and the Hawks were caught offside, before the two-time Norm Smith medallist set up Lohmann. He marked as the siren sounded, celebrated crazily, then sent through a set-shot that most of the 97,835 people packed into the MCG had forgotten about.

The Kai Show was also fittingly timed, off the back of Zac Bailey's fresh eight-year extension a fortnight ago and Logan Morris' two-year deal signed in the week before the preliminary final. Lohmann, of course, is heading into a contract year in 2027 and is already being eyed by Victorian rivals.

Lohmann is now firmly Brisbane's top contract priority and could almost write his own number when it comes to discussions off the back of yet another awesome performance. If a third premiership medallion is hanging from his neck next Saturday night, he can undoubtedly lay claim to his part in that regardless of what he produces on Grand Final day.

For this, in one of the best preliminary finals ever seen – if not one of the best games of Australian Football ever seen – had Lohmann's fingerprints all over it. Five outstanding goals, delivered from 11 disposals and five marks and featuring another eight score involvements and one goal assist, was proof of that.

Kai-boom.