It is all about retribution for the Lions at the Gabba on Friday night… retribution for the worst Round 1 loss in the Chris Fagan era and the fourth-biggest Round 1 loss in club history.
There is no sugar-coating last Saturday’s nine-goal loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval. As coach Fagan and co-captains Lachie Neale and Harris Andrews conceded in the media this week.
But as Fagan and his troops look to pick up the pieces against Melbourne, who are coming off a 50-point Round 1 win over the Western Bulldogs, they only have to go back three games for proof that retribution is definitely possible.
In Round 23 last year the same doom and gloom that has engulfed Brighton Homes arena this week threw a dark shadow over the Lions ahead of the finals. A 58-point Gabba loss to Melbourne cost them the double chance when they tumbled from equal second on the ladder at Round 22 to sixth at the end of the home-and-away season.
Yet at their next outing the Lions beat Richmond by two points in an elimination final at the Gabba, and the following week, in a re-match with their Round 23 conquerors, they beat Melbourne by 13 points at the MCG in one of the great performances in club history.
Forty-one times in club history Brisbane have lost by 50 points or more and won the following week. And four of them have come under coach Fagan.
In Round 14 2017, sitting bottom of the ladder, the Lions lost by 60 points to second-placed GWS at the Gabba. Yet in Round 15 they beat an 11th-placed Essendon side a game outside the top eight by eight points at Marvel Stadium.
In 2019 the Lions turned a 62-points Gabba loss to Collingwood in Round 5 into a 49-point Carrara win over Gold Coast in Round 6 to celebrate Fagan’s 50th game as coach and Noah Answerth’s debut.
And in round 15 last year they put behind them a 64-point Round 15 loss to Melbourne at the MCG to post a 41-point Gabba win over the Bulldogs in Round 16, led by Lachie Neale (33 possessions), Charlie Cameron (four goals) and 100th-gamer Jarrod Berry.
For the record books, the biggest week-to-week turnaround in club history was in 2016 when, after a 138-point hiding from Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in Round 20, the Lions bounced back to beat Carlton by four points at the Gabba in Round 21.
Zorko, Harris Andrews, Daniel Rich, Eric Hipwood, Darcy Gardiner and Ryan Lester will remember it vividly – they are the six players from that side still at the club.
BRISBANE v MELBOURNE – HEAD-TO-HEAD
Brisbane’s first game against Melbourne was Round 5 1987. It was their second game at Carrara and the first win at their 1987-92 home, which is now headquarters for the Gold Coast Suns. The late Phil Walsh had 30 possessions for the home side as the votes went to Steve Reynoldson, Mark Williams and Brenton Phillips.
The head-to-head record between the clubs from 1987-2022 is 23-29 to the Demons, but in 22 meetings at the Gabba, including seven Melbourne ‘home’ games 2001-07, the record favors the home side 17-5.
FORM GUIDE – THE FAGAN ERA
The Lions’ sensational semi-final win over Melbourne at the MCG last year snapped a four-game losing streak against the Demons and gives the club a 3-6 record against them under coach Chris Fagan. They are 1-2 at the Gabba during the same period.
Bris v Melb: LLWWLLLLW
At the Gabba: LWL
BIGGEST WINS & LOSSES
The Lions biggest win over the Demons was 85 points in Round 12 1997 at the MCG in John Northey’s second year as coach. Jarrod Molloy kicked a career-best seven goals as the votes went to Shaun Hart, Molloy and first-year co-captain Michael Voss.
Oddly, the Lions biggest loss to the Demons came barely 12 months later, when in Roger Merrett’s seventh game as caretaker coach after Northey was sacked, they lost by 95 points at the MCG. Jeff Farmer kicked six goals for the home side and Garry Lyon five goals.
BROWNLOW VOTES
Simon Black has polled most Brownlow Medal votes in games between the two clubs with 12 – two ahead of Adrian Fletcher, father of 2023 father/son newcomer Jaspa Fletcher.
Oddly, Melbourne’s leading vote-winner is a player who is now two clubs on. Jesse Hogan polled 10 votes for the Demons from 2015-16 before moving to Fremantle and now GWS.
STATS SPECIALS
Lachie Neale’s 46 possessions in a qualifying loss at Adelaide Oval in the Covid season of 2020 is the club’s best against Melbourne. This surpassed Neale’s 38 possessions in Round 15 2019, which matched the then club record set by Martin Leslie with a career-best outing in Round 7 1991.
Daniel Bradshaw holds the Brisbane goal-kicking record against Melbourne with his nine-goal haul in a big win at the Gabba in Round 14 2005. It was the start of a golden run for Bradshaw against the Demons in which he kicked 9-8-6-4-4 in consecutive games 2005-09.
Melbourne’s equivalent best against Brisbane in Steven Febey’s 39 possessions in Round 5 1994, when his twin brother Matthew had 35, and the seven-goal hauls of David Williams in 1987 and David Neitz in 2002.
FIVE OTHER SPECIAL MOMENTS
Richard Champion found himself in the unenviable position of providing the ‘step ladder’’ for the AFL Mark of the Century in Round 22 1995, when Melbourne’s Shaun Smith stood on his shoulders in the goal square at the Main Street end of the Gabba. But it was still a special day for the then fullback now multi-media personality – the Bears won by 21 points to ultimately qualify for their first final the following week.
Craig McRae, triple Lions premiership ace turned Collingwood coach, kicked a career-best six goals in a 77-point win over Melbourne at the Gabba in Round 12 1996. It was the 30th game of McRae’s 195-game career after he was drafted from SANFL club Glenelg in the 1993 Pre-Season Draft.
Jamie Charman, one-time Bundaberg swimming star turned premiership ruckman turned Lions corporate sales executive turned real estate guru, played his 100th game in a 44-point win over Melbourne in Round 15 2007.
Anthony Corrie, now at the Lions as Indigenous Player Welfare Manager, picked up the only two Brownlow votes of his 56-game AFL career against Melbourne at the Gabba in Round 6 2008. He had 18 possessions and kicked three goals in a 52-point win in James Polkinghorne’s AFL debut.
Ben Hudson, new coach of the Lions’ VFL side this year after a long stretch on the senior coaching panel, played his first game for the Lions in Round 1 2012. It was Melbourne’s first game under coach Mark Neeld but Brisbane won by 41 points.
