JUST when Brisbane looked like wasting its chances of putting away a feisty Melbourne, 15 minutes of Eric Hipwood magic saved the day.
The lanky Lions forward had the 24,809 Gabba fans captivated with an exhilarating four-goal burst late in the third quarter to give his team the breathing space it craved all afternoon.
Hipwood added a fifth goal in the opening two minutes of the final term to round out his half-quarter-of-mayhem as the home team cruised to a 15.17 (107) to 11.8 (74) victory.
It leaves the Lions in fifth position with a 9-5 record ahead of a date with fourth-placed Greater Western Sydney next Sunday.
While captain Dayne Zorko (31 disposals and three goals) and midfield general Lachie Neale (38 and 12 clearances) were the four-quarter engines that drove the Lions, Hipwood turned the tide.
Fittingly, it was a piece of Zorko magic that started the onslaught.
With the Lions trailing by nine points at the 19-minute mark of the third quarter, Zorko saved a ball just inside the boundary line and hit Hipwood at the top of the goalsquare with a checkside pass.
From the next Jarryd Lyons centre clearance, Hipwood took a mark on the lead and banged home the set shot from 50m to give Brisbane the lead.
He added another with an around-the-corner stunner from 40m and then his fourth came after the three-quarter time siren with a perfectly threaded set shot from 45m.
The precision of Hipwood's kicking totally reversed what had been a difficult day for both teams.
Brisbane outgunned Melbourne inside the contest, winning the clearances (43-29) and contested footy (159-132) but couldn't punish the Demons on the scoreboard.
Melbourne was able to capitalise on turnovers, often sweeping the ball from half-back to unguarded men inside 50. The Demons led at both quarter-time and half-time but fizzled out.
They were dealt a cruel blow in the second quarter with star ruckman Max Gawn spending 20 minutes in the dressingroom attending to a badly rolled ankle.
Gawn landed awkwardly in a contest with counterpart Stefan Martin, hobbled off, but returned just moments before half-time.
He was clearly hampered for the remainder of the game and eventually came off for good during the last term.
Brisbane had ruck problems of its own with towering Oscar McInerney helped off the field before the main break with a bad facial injury.
McInerney was cleaned up in a Christian Salem bump that could come under match review scrutiny.
BRISBANE 2.6 4.11 10.14 15.17 (107)
MELBOURNE 3.3 6.5 9.6 11.8 (74)
GOALS
Brisbane: Hipwood 5, Zorko 3, Lyons, Cameron, Answerth, Christensen, Robinson, McCarthy, Bailey
Melbourne: Petracca 2, Hannan 2, McDonald, Lockhart, Fritsch, Weideman, May, Viney, Hunt
BEST
Brisbane: Zorko, Neale, Hipwood, Lester, Rich, McCluggage
Melbourne: Oliver, Viney, Salem, Petracca, May
INJURIES
Brisbane: Witherden (illness) replaced in selected side by Starcevich; McInerney (concussion)
Melbourne: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Fisher, Rosebury, Gavine
Official crowd: 24,809 at the Gabba
