Brisbane defeated Collingwood by 63 points at the MCG on Friday night on the back of eight goals to Logan Morris.
The win puts Brisbane in pole position to nab third place heading into the finals after a 2.2 per cent percentage boost, with Hawthorn needing a win in their away trip against West Coast on Sunday, on top of a massive 4.3 per cent boost in order to take third.
It means if the Eagles score about 60 points, then Hawthorn would need a 16-goal win — just shy of 100 points — to jump into third place.
A third-placed finish would give them an almost ideal path to the Grand Final and a possible three-peat, with the potential finish setting them up for an away qualifying final against a gutted Swans side amid their alleged sexual assault scandal.
The Swans have banned five first-choice players — stars Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey, plus James Jordon and Riley Bice — over their involvement in an alleged sexual assault scandal following the side’s Round 23 win over Melbourne.
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said he didn’t have a preferred opponent for their qualifying final, claiming the scandal could actually “galvanise” the remaining Swans.
“The guys that do get to play just might go that much harder and be that much more difficult to beat.”
Fagan said he “would have taken” a 10-goal win against Collingwood was it offered to him pre-game.
“I mean, Collingwood got a couple of good players back and they had their best available team out there, so they came to play to win, and so did we, and so I’d take that win any day of the week,” Fagan told Kayo Sports post-game.
“Although I was a little bit disappointed with the goals they got at the end.”
The only dampener on the Lions’ win was potential MRO trouble for Ty Gallop, after he slammed Charlie West’s head into the ground on the stroke of three quarter-time resulting in a dangerous tackle free-kick.
Fagan was visibly agitated in the last quarter when the Pies kicked six in a row to cut the margin down before a late surge gave them an important buffer.
“There was a little bit because I did need someone to tell me what the percentage sort of implications were, but I think I think Hawthorn are going to have to play pretty well tomorrow to get past us now,” he said.
“So hopefully we’ve sewn up third spot, which is a good effort when we were 6-6 at one stage in the season.
“I think we’ve only lost one since then, so that was by a lot, so the boys have been good.”
Collingwood appears set to play either the Bulldogs or Carlton in a wildcard clash.