The Greater Western Sydney Giants completely dismantled the back-to-back reigning premiers, the Brisbane Lions, securing a 26.10 (166) to 13.10 (88) victory in Round 11 of the 2026 AFL season at ENGIE Stadium. The game completely turned on an astonishing third-quarter display where the Giants blew the match wide open, triggering live television commentators to question if the sport required a mechanism to stop such a lopsided contest.
GWS unleashed an unanswered 14-goal onslaught during that single term, outscoring the shellshocked Lions 14.2 (86) to 0.3 (3). According to Fox Sports, television callers described the continuous run of goals as a tsunami that made the Brisbane defense look like witches hats, leading former player Gerard Healy to raise the idea of a mercy rule.
The 86-point third-quarter effort broke the all-time league record for a third term, surpassing a benchmark set by Essendon in 1982. The scoring frenzy helped set a new franchise-highest score for GWS, eclipsing their previous record of 162 points set in 2023. Giants captain Toby Greene led the forward line with five goals, moving past Jeremy Cameron to become the all-time leading goal kicker in club history with 428 career goals. Giants coach Adam Kingsley revealed after the match that Greene achieved the feat while playing through the pain of a broken foot.
Brisbane offered no resistance during the second half as their flag defense took a substantial hit. Lions coach Chris Fagan did not hold back when analyzing the defeat to reporters, stating that “nothing we tried worked” as his team suffered consecutive heavy losses. Fagan added that the team is currently “going backwards” and accepted that the 6-5 Lions are “nowhere near a premiership fancy” at this point in the year.