Brisbane Lions rout Sydney Swans to win Aussie rules premiership

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Brisbane Lions bounced back from a heartbreaking loss in last year’s Australian Football League grand final by thrashing the Sydney Swans by 60 points on Saturday to claim their first Aussie rules premiership in more than two decades.

Callum Ah Chee and Kai Lohmann both kicked four goals in the Lions' 18.12 (120) to 9.6 (60) victory in front of over 100,000 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to help ease the disappointment of losing by four points to Collingwood in last year’s final.

On Saturday, the Lions led at the end of each quarter but ran away from Sydney with seven goals in a dominant second quarter to lead by 46 points at halftime.

That lead extended to 73 points after the third quarter as the Lions picked up their fourth premiership since the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Lions merged in 1996, and their first since a hat trick of titles in 2001-03.

Sydney’s defeat was its fourth in a grand final since its last premiership in 2012 and comes two years after a humbling 81-point loss to the Geelong Cats.

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