THE best two teams for most of the Smithy’s VFL home-and-away made devastating statements of intent as the Casey Demons and Southport scored emphatic victories to earn home preliminary finals on Saturday.

Brisbane Lions and Sydney will need to regroup quickly ahead of dangerous home semi-finals next week against Collingwood/Carlton and Gold Coast/Box Hill Hawks respectively, with all four opponents good enough to cause an upset and send the Lions or Swans out in straight sets.

2^ND QUALIFYING FINAL
BRISBANE LIONS 5.8 (38)
SOUTHPORT 12.15 (87)

SOUTHPORT re-established itself as the second seed in this year’s finals series with a dominant 49-point Queensland Derby victory over Brisbane Lions at Moreton Bay’s Red Rooster Park on Saturday.

The Sharks came out fired up and showed their intent early with some big tackles, in particular from Brayden Crossley and Jacob Townsend, setting the tone as they kicked the first three goals of the game and never looked back.

They had 10 inside-50s to two by the 20-minute mark of the opening quarter, and while the Lions clung on for a while, getting within six points early in the second quarter after a Kai Lohmann goal and a Nakia Cockatoo near miss, but the Sharks led by 16 at the main break after a late Ryan Davis goal.

The visitors booted the first three goals of the third term, with 50^th-gamer Jay Lockhart giving them a 34-point lead within 8½ minutes, and while they only kicked three majors in each term, they never looked like being threatened as they finished +48 in disposals, +10 in marks and +20 in tackles while recording a mammoth 56-30 inside-50 discrepancy.

Crossley was again a behemoth for Southport in the continued absence of Fraser Thurlow, getting the better of the Lions trio of Darcy Fort, Henry Smith and Tom Fullarton to finish with 17 disposals, 39 hitouts and 10 bonecrunching tackles to be the best man on the ground.

He was just ahead of the again magnificent Boyd Woodcock, who was also a class above with a game-high 32 possessions, five clearances, five inside-50s and two tackles, while Jesse Joyce stepped up to the plate with 27 touches, five marks, eight clearances, six tackles and a goal, covering for star midfielder Jacob Dawson, who still had 24 touches and six clearances but was a little below his usual influence.

Jacob Heron (20, five marks, eight entries, five tackles) played one of his best games in white and black, Lockhart (18, seven marks) and Zac Foot (17, six clearances) provided plenty of run, Max Pescud was a livewire up forward in the absence of Billy Gowers (knee) with 15 touches, six marks, six tackles and three goals and co-captain Mike Manteit (23) also put in a strong shift.

James Madden (21, five marks, six rebounds) was the Lions’ best across half-back alongside midfielder James Tunstill (25, five clearances) and Riley Greene impressed in defence with some nice passages despite only finishing with seven touches and the mark of the day alongside Connor McFadyen (19, five marks), Wylie Buzza (19, seven marks) and Charlie Bowes (15, seven rebounds).

Lohmann (17, six marks, one goal) gave everything he had for the Lions and Fort (16, five marks, 38 hitouts was still good, while Callum Ah Chee (16 disposals) got a run in the legs to put his hand up for AFL selection on Thursday night, but the Lions were never in the contest as they recorded their lowest score of the season.

1^ST QUALIFYING FINAL
CASEY DEMONS 14.15 (99)
SYDNEY 7.10 (52)

CASEY reminded everyone just why it won its first 17 games of the season and remains the team to beat for the premiership after blitzing Sydney in the third quarter to win by 47 points at Casey Fields.

The first half was a dour struggle as the Demons slowly ground the Swans down to lead by 17 points at the main break, but it was Ben Ronke’s second goal at the three-minute mark of the third that sparked the home team into action.

Holding a 10-point lead and in danger of being seriously challenged by an in-form opponent chasing a sixth win in a row, the Demons slammed on three goals in the next four minutes, the last seven of the quarter and eight in a row to blow the margin out as far as 59 points before the Swans kicked three of the last four to add some respectability to the score.

Casey took a risk in going in without a recognised ruckman against Sydney’s powerhouse big man division, but it paid off with Sam Weideman (22 disposals, six marks, 19 hitouts) providing extra mobility around the ground.

Callum Sinclair (16, 38 hitouts, nine clearances, five tackles) starred for the Swans, but he, Joel Amartey (16, eight marks), Peter Ladhams (13, 14 hitouts) and Lachlan McAndrew (four disposals, six hitouts) all failed to kick a goal as the Demons cashed in on the late withdrawal of Hayden McLean to snap the visitors’ one-wood in half.

Luke Dunstan was peerless in the midfield for Casey, piling up 38 disposals, eight marks, 11 clearances and two goals to be a dominant best-on-ground, with skipper Mitch White (25, seven clearances, six tackles) proving a more than capable right-hand man, Adam Tomlinson marshalling the defence with 22 touches and seven marks and Mitch Brown outclassing Sydney’s strong defence to take six marks and boot five goals.

Angus Sheldrick kicked the opening goal for the Swans and went on to be their best player with 30 disposals, five tackles and five entries, while Ronke played a lone hand up forward with 16 disposals and four goals, Harry Cunningham (23, seven marks) played well in defence and Sinclair put in another lionhearted performance as rumours swirled around a retirement announcement during the afternoon.

SUNDAY

2^nd Elimination Final: 6.Collingwood v 7.Carlton (Victoria Park, 1.05pm)
1^st Elimination Final: 5.Gold Coast v 8.Box Hill Hawks (Metricon Stadium, 6.05pm)

NEXT WEEK: September 3-4: 1^st Semi Final: Sydney v Winner 1^st EF (TBA). 2^nd Semi Final: Brisbane Lions v Winner 2^nd EF (TBA).

THEN: September 10-11: 1^st Preliminary Final: Casey Demons v Winner 2^nd SF (Casey Fields, TBA). 2^nd Preliminary Final: Southport v Winner 1^st EF (Fankhauser Reserve, TBA)

FINALLY: Sunday, September 18: Smithy’s VFL Grand Final: Winner 1^st PF v Winner 2^nd PF (Ikon Park)

Twitter: @BRhodesVFL

All VFL matches in 2022 are live-streamed free. The match of the round can be viewed on Channel 7, while all remaining games are streamed live and on demand via www.afl.com.au and the AFL Live and VFL apps. Radio 3WBC and Casey Radio are also broadcasting matches.
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