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Sport
Alex Mitchell

Charlie Cameron kicks seven as Lions defeat Giants

Charlie Cameron kicked seven goals as Brisbane scored a 21-point AFL win over GWS in Canberra. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Charlie Cameron's career-high seven goals have helped Brisbane make it three AFL wins on the bounce, beating GWS by 21 points at Manuka Oval.

The Lions never looked like losing Saturday's match but struggled to shake off the gallant Giants in moving to 4-2 for the season, with red-hot livewire Cameron making it 17 goals in his past three outings.

None was more special than an audacious mid-air flick more resembling a soccer striker than an Australian rules small forward, while he slotted three goals in the third term when the Lions assembled a match-winning 41-point lead.

"He's a real opportunist, he's had some opportunities the last few weeks and he's made the most of them," Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said.

"When his pressure is up, he tends to score and that's been the case the last few weeks. That's key to his game.

"If he's still doing those one percenters, the other things just seem to fall into place for him ... he was a pretty important player tonight I would have thought."

But the Giants (2-4) never quit and maintained their record of competitive games under new coach Adam Kingsley, the 21-point margin the biggest differential in any of their six games this year.

Xavier O'Halloran came into the contest with six career goals in 34 games but found a remarkable three in the first half alone, including two long bombs from outside 50, while four majors from goalsneak Brent Daniels helped them always stay in touch.

"It's where you need to start - effort and intent and attitude ... that's first class," Kingsley said.

"I know a guy is going to fight to the end, irrespective of what the scoreboard is telling us.

"(Brisbane) keep asking questions of your defence, and that's why they're so good and why they're one of the favourites to win the premiership ... if you make a minor error, they punish it, if you're not quite on positionally, they punish it."

It continued a poor run for GWS at their secondary home, now losers of their past eight starts at Manuka Oval.

They got a combined 79 touches from prime movers Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio, while Daniel Rich starred for the Lions with 27 touches in his quarter-back role.

Having steadied themselves from a 1-2 start and firmly entered top-four discussions, Fagan said things were tracking as well as could be expected for his Lions.

"The only poor performance we've really had this year was against Port Adelaide in round one ... by our own standards we played pretty poorly," he said.

"Since then, our one loss has been against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel stadium, their form has been pretty solid, they've beaten some good teams.

"Our last four weeks have been pretty solid."

The loss was further soured for the Giants with an injury blow for All-Australian defender Sam Taylor, who left the game in the third quarter with a suspected hamstring tear.

And Adam Kennedy joined him in the casualty ward just minutes after entering as a substitute, hurting his knee after copping a bump from Brisbane speedster Keidean Coleman.

GWS veteran Callan Ward might get some match review officer scrutiny for a sling tackle on Lachie Neale, although replays suggested the Lions star may have contributed to his head hitting the surface.

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