Nobody show this to Kane Cornes.
Brisbane Lions young gun Darcy Wilmot has emphatically celebrated Friday evening’s comeback victory over the Melbourne Demons by geeing up the MCG spectators, leaving his teammates in stitches.
As the Lions wound down after 13-point triumph, the 19-year-old bolted around the boundary line and frantically threw his arms in the air.
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“Motty!” Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko yelled after him.
When he returned, Wilmot charged at his teammates bellowing: “Get up!”
Playing in his second AFL game, Wilmot registered 15 disposals and four tackles to help Brisbane qualify for next weekend’s preliminary final against the Geelong Cats.
Wilmot, the club’s first pick in the 2021 draft, made his AFL debut in last weekend’s thrilling elimination final against the Richmond Tigers, finishing with 11 disposals and a goal.
“It‘s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” he told AFL.com.au at the time.
“To have it with the bunch of boys you work so hard with, it just means everything to us, the fans and our football club. It’s absolutely unreal. I can’t put it into words.
“I just wanted to get out there and play footy. I love playing footy, so getting to play at the highest level was always my dream. It is my personality not to shy away and keep it simple. I knew what I had to do and just kept to it.
“That (the goal) was unreal. I just tried to be really composed coming up to it, but as soon as I kicked it I turned and wanted to celebrate with my teammates. I heard someone say ‘Give it to the crowd’ so I got up and about. The crowd were unreal. I absolutely loved the atmosphere. You couldn’t dream about it.”
The Lions entered Friday’s contest after scraping through in week one of finals and looked down and out in the first half against a rampant Melbourne outfit.
As the second half got underway however it was a different looking Lions who turned the tables and put the Demons to the sword as they came roaring back into the contest.
An 11 goal to five second half saw the Lions claim the 14.8 (92) to 11.13 (78) victory and advance into the third week of the finals.
In doing so the Lions broke their MCG hoodoo, a venue they haven‘t won at since 2014 and were riding an 11-game losing streak.
The Lions will take on the Cats next Friday night, back at the MCG with the winner booking a spot in the 2022 AFL Grand Final.
Melbourne join the West Coast Eagles (2007) and Hawthorn (2016) as reigning premiers to be knocked out in straight sets the following season.
