McGRATH’S MEMORABLE MIRACLE

An iconic moment in the greatest game of all deserves commentary to match. And there is no doubt Ash McGrath’s arguably most iconic moment of any player celebrating their 200th AFL match will forever be even more memorable simply because of four simple words from Anthony Hudson in the commentary box.

A Google search for “The Miracle On Grass” instantly brings up pages of videos and stories of the evening of Sunday, June 23, 2013, when the Brisbane Lions found themselves 52 points behind Geelong at the 22-minute mark of the third quarter before edging back to within 38 at the final change.

Then came a stunning blitz, with the Lions banging on seven goals to one to get within a point as the clock ran down.

Even with just 25 seconds to go it looked like the comeback would fall short when Geelong star Joel Corey pumped a long kick to the teeth of the Cats’ goal. But Daniel Merrett clunked a big contested mark at the top of the square and the Lions rolled the dice.

It wasn’t necessarily clean –Merrett was called to play on under pressure and then Lion Elliot Yeo scrubbed a kick to the flank where Simon Black gathered expertly and bit off the 45-degree kick under pressure to Joel Patfull at centre half-back.

He played on quickly, hitting a diving Jed Adcock in a one-on-one in the centre circle, with a risky handball from a sitting position finding Dayne Zorko on the run and his kick hit McGrath 48m out with just one second to spare.

With a heaving Gabba crowd, his teammates, Cats players and a pensive audience watching on around the country, McGrath, who had had just seven disposals (for two goals) before that moment, set sail from 55m and split the middle to complete what was the biggest comeback in the combined

The miracle on grass

COMMENTATOR ANTHONY

HUDSON DESCRIBING THE LIONS’ COMEBACK WIN

ROUND 13, 2013

history of Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears and the equal-eighth biggest retrieval in VFL/AFL history. Black finished with 33 disposals for the Lions to lead all comers, with Daniel Rich (25, two goals), Jack Redden (24) and Brent Moloney (22, three goals) all prominent, while Steve Johnson (two goals), Jimmy Bartel, Mathew Stokes and Joel Selwood all had 31 possessions for the Cats and Tom Hawkins booted three goals.

Brisbane Lions 3.2 5.4 7.8 15.13 (103)

Geelong 5.3 9.7 13.10 14.14 (98)

BEST: Brisbane Lions – Moloney, McGrath, Rich, Black, Redden. Geelong – Bartel, Johnson, Blicavs, Selwood, Stokes, Enright.

GOALS: Brisbane Lions – McGrath 3, Moloney 3, Rich 2, Lisle, Patfull, Brown, Zorko, Adcock, Hanley, Golby. Geelong – Hawkins 3, Christensen 2, Motlop 2, Johnson 2, Mackie, Guthrie, Murdoch, Blicavs, Podsiadly.

Substitutes: Brisbane Lions – Harwood (replaced Mayes during the third quarter); Geelong – Stringer (replaced Murdoch during the third quarter). Umpires: C. Donlon, J. Bannister, S. Wenn. Crowd: 24,164 at the Gabba.