Yet they also suffered an early blow when captain Callum Mills was forced off with a suspected ACL injury.<\/p>\n
Mills returned to the bench during the game \u2014 and began coaching his teammates at halftime after hobbling into the dressing room on crutches.<\/p>\n
In the absence of Mills, Charlie Curnow, Logan McDonald and Tom Papley inspired the Swans, scoring 17 goals between them on a famous day at the SCG.<\/p>\n
Lions star Lachie Neale was kept unusually quiet, barely touching the ball in the first half as the Swans thwarted the in-form Brisbane at every turn.<\/p>\n
And the scenes at the end of the match \u2014 which ended 21.15 (141) to 13.10 (88) \u2014 were ones of ecstacy as the SCG exploded into celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll ll the boys just played their role, and I\u2019m just so proud of the boys that came in,\u201d Papley said on Kayo Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy belief didn\u2019t change. \u201cI believe in our system…our belief was always to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys that are out, they\u2019ve got a lot of talent but our system doesn\u2019t rely on talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt requires hard work and desire, and tell you what we had that today.\u201d
The Lions will now need to re-group after a major blow to their hopes of a third successive flag.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is the most points a Chris Fagan team has ever conceded in a finals game.<\/p>\n
They will face the Adelaide Crows or Western Bulldogs in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
But the night belonged to the Swans, with Papley adding: \u201cThey\u2019re back-to-back premiers and have played in three grand finals in a row, and these kids, like a lot have played 20 games or less.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ones that come in, they just did their role, they chased, they pressured. They know their role, and I just have full belief in our system. And the coaches have been amazing this year and they were amazing this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pierced us last time, but we went to work on why they pantsed us. And geez, today we just nailed it…we believed we could win today. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe get a rest and we go into home prelim final and give ourselves the best chance, and we believe.\u2019<\/p>\n
See how the game unfolded via our live blog below<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Brisbane<\/a>Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sydney Swans overcame their serious off-field scandal and a major injury blow to stun the Brisbane Lions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[151041,151032,95883,151016,151049,141227,151046,145442,151017,151047,151028,151048,38151,99988,151027,151025,57127,151022,151045,151034,151030,21,14519,150520,99,151035,110709,79263,107252,6522,7702,151037,72836,151051,41989,151019,110,151015,41979,151021,71343,151036,151029,28257,12318,151039,39931,52308,39964,36872,151043,71686,8000,20327,128028,151044,12327,39929,86763,151018,60956,151026,4864,107247,87327,5063,5009,45547,64993,141206,43429,151042,47807,51962,67600,37889,65016,80873,58307,38263,39986,151050,40472,141208,151024,9246,41977,151033,39248,39616,77019,38501,43247,151020,151031,28256,103713,59070,101165,121580,42876,151040,101975,38964,39096,151023,31666,151038,39971],"class_list":["post-88745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-13-10","tag-151032","tag-17-goals","tag-20-games-or-less","tag-21-15","tag-141227","tag-a-36-point-lead","tag-a-53-point-win","tag-a-chris-fagan-team","tag-a-famous-day","tag-a-finals-game-they","tag-a-home-preliminary-final","tag-a-lot","tag-a-major-blow","tag-a-major-injury-blow","tag-a-rest","tag-a-row","tag-a-suspected-acl-injury-mills","tag-a-third-successive-flag-it","tag-all-ll","tag-an-early-blow","tag-austrlia","tag-back-to-back-premiers","tag-breaching","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions-record","tag-captain-callum-mills","tag-celebration","tag-chad-warner","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-club-standards","tag-crutches-in","tag-disbelief","tag-ecstacy","tag-every-match","tag-every-turn-and","tag-fashion","tag-full-belief","tag-halftime","tag-hard-work-and-desire","tag-his-teammates","tag-home-prelim-final","tag-huge-finals-boilover","tag-isaac-heeney","tag-james-jordon","tag-just-1-yet","tag-kayo","tag-kayo-sports","tag-kayo-sports-new","tag-last-month","tag-last-month-but","tag-last-time","tag-lions","tag-logan-mcdonald","tag-mills","tag-my-belief","tag-nick-blakey","tag-no-ad-breaks","tag-our-belief","tag-our-live-blog","tag-our-system","tag-papley","tag-play","tag-riley-bice","tag-scoring","tag-swans","tag-sydney-swans","tag-talent","tag-that-today","tag-the-2026-toyota-afl-finals-series","tag-the-absence","tag-the-adelaide-crows-or-western-bulldogs","tag-the-ball","tag-the-bench","tag-the-best-chance","tag-the-boys","tag-the-brisbane-lions","tag-the-coaches","tag-the-dressing-room","tag-the-end","tag-the-first-half","tag-the-first-quarter-watch","tag-the-game","tag-the-grand-final-live","tag-the-in-form-brisbane","tag-the-lions","tag-the-match","tag-the-most-points","tag-the-night","tag-the-ones","tag-the-reigning-premiers","tag-the-scenes","tag-the-scg","tag-the-scg-lions-star-lachie-neale","tag-the-semi-finals-but","tag-the-swans","tag-the-sydney-swans","tag-their-clash","tag-their-hopes","tag-their-players","tag-their-role","tag-their-serious-off-field-scandal","tag-these-kids","tag-this-week","tag-this-year","tag-three-grand-finals","tag-today","tag-tom-papley","tag-your-first-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}