The 2023 Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame event recognises the most outstanding contributors across the Club's merged history.
This evening we also honoured the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Brisbane Lions premiership and gave members and fans the opportunity to hear from the greats who contributed to these pivotal moments in the Club’s history.
Tune in here for live updates as past players and legends are inducted.
HARVEY MERRIGAN
Harvey Merrigan was a great of Fitzroy through the 1970’s, a club champion, captain, State representative and Team of the Century selection.
A 190cm barrel-chested, lock-down fullback, and as reliable as they come, he played on the oppositions guns of his era… Hudson, Wade, McKenna, Templeton, Moncrieff and others… through 197 games from 1969-81.
Yet perhaps the one single moment for which he is his best remembered was an unlikely goal in 1979 which gave Fitzroy the highest score in AFL history. It was his 13th goal in his 187th game and came against Melbourne at Waverley.
Fitzroy went on to post 36-22 (238) – a score which has been bettered only once since in history - by one point by Geelong in 1992.
A favourite with Fitzroy fans and teammates alike through a tough era for the club, he was a fixture in the #36 jumper for a decade before recurring injury. The club was desperate to get him to 200 games. He played two games in 1980 and two in 1981 before losing the battle, but not before a career-best five goals in his second-last game for a career total of 18.
A proud, passionate and loyal Fitzroy man, and now a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame... HARVEY MERRIGAN
📸 Image: Harvey Merrigan
MAL MICHAEL
Mal Michael is one of kind. Not just because he’s the only AFL star born in Papua New Guinea. And not just because he was the first rookie in AFL history. But because he was the strongest, most miserly and hard-to-play-on key defender in the AFL era through the Brisbane Lions golden era.
From Port Moresby via Brisbane’s western suburbs and rival club Collingwood, Michael found his way ‘home’ to the Brisbane Lions in 2001 to become a three-time AFL premiership player.
He’d always wanted to play for Brisbane, but it hadn’t worked out .. until it did. And then it was special. He played 97 of 101 games in 2001-02-03-04 and finished 8th-6th-10th-6th in the coveted Merrett/Murray Medal. He was a star. But in 13 finals through the special times only Simon Black and Nigel Lappin polled higher. He was a superstar.
A 238-game veteran with Collingwood, Brisbane and Essendon, one of the very best fullbacks of the modern era, and now a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame... MAL MICHAEL
📸 Image: Mal Michael
WILFRED "CHICKEN" SMALLHORN
He had one of the best-known nicknames in AFL history… Wilfred “Chicken” Smallhorn… and he was one of Fitzroy’s greats through the 1930’s.
So named because his mother could never catch him when he was young, Smallhorn played 150 games from 1930-40, won the Brownlow Medal in 1933, was named on the wing in Fitzroy’s Team of the Century, and is an AFL Hall of Famer.
A seven-time Victorian representative, he was calm, clever and courageous… one of the game’s best in his prime…
He polled 100 career Brownlow votes – behind only Kevin Murray, Garry Wilson and Haydn Bunton in Fitzroy history –polling more votes even than Paul Roos, and John Murphyin barely half as many games.
Having enlisted in the Australian army in 1940, he spent three years as a prisoner of war in the horrific Changi Prison and in 1942 organized a six-team football competition in Changi that had clearances, tribunals and even the “Çhangi Brownlow”. As legend has it, the final game was Victoria against the ‘Rest of Australia’ in front of 10,000 spectators.
Later a prominent media personality and a long-time television panelist, he died in 1988 aged 77. Gone but never forgotten, and now a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame… WILFRED "CHICKEN" SMALLHORN.
📸 Image: William "Chicken" Smallhorn
MICK GRACE
Saturday 8 May 1897. Fitzroy beat Carlton by 33 points at Brunswick Street Oval in the club’s very first game in the then VFL. At 22, 180cm ruck/forward Mick Grace, claimed a place in club history. But in truth Grace was a bona-fide Australian Rules star even before it was the VFL, having starred with the mighty Maroons in the VFA from 1895-96.Known as the ‘Flying Angel’ for his grace and ability in the airhe was at his best when the stakes were highest.
Said to have won at least two club champion awards in an era of limited records, he helped Fitzroy secure the 1895 VFA premiership, when there was no grand final, and was among the best afield in both the 1898 and 1899 VFL grand finals.
He kicked two of the team’s three goals in the following year’s Grand Final too, when Fitzroy finished just four points shy of claiming what would have been the League’s first ‘Three-Peat’.
He retired at 26 as the club’s games record-holder at the time, but was lured out of retirement by Carlton with whom he claimed back-to-back flags in 1906-07.
His phenomenal story was cut short in 1912 when he contracted tuberculosis and died at just 37.
One of football’s early greats, and now a Brisbane Lions Hall of Famer… MICK GRACE
CRAIG McRAE
Craig McRae was drafted at 63kg in 1992… jockey size. Just. He was too small for AFL football, or so he decided. Because after waiting 19 years to get drafted he then chose to wait another two years to see if he could play.
It’s not something your average want-to-be footballer would do… but the man they call ‘Fly’ is no average anything. And could he play! After two seasons post-draft with Glenelg he stepped straight into the Brisbane side in 1995 and there he stayed for 10 years. Through 195 games, 125 wins, 18 finals, four grand finals and three premierships, he was a star.
Ever dangerous around goals, with a deadly left-foot, he kicked 232 goals. Yet goals were secondary. He was the original ‘know your role, accept your role, play your role’ disciple of coach Leigh Matthews. It was all about tackles and pressure. A brilliant team player in a brilliant team.
Without fuss or fanfare, he retired after the 2004 grand final to begin football life - phase two. A qualified teacher, he was a man on a coaching mission. To Richmond, Brisbane, Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn and now the senior coach at Collingwood.
We can’t luv him, but we always will. A small man, a giant of the game… and a Brisbane Lions Hall of Famer… CRAIG McRAE
📸 Image: Craig McRae
MICHAEL McLEAN
Michael McLean only played one game for the Brisbane Lions… the very first… And he spent most of it on the bench injured. A sad end to wonderful AFL career that totalled 183 games .. including 95 with the Bulldogs and 87 with the Bears.
But it matters not now… because the man they called ‘Magic’ was already a champion. On and off the field, he was key pillar on which the post-merger success of the Brisbane Lions was built. A dual club champion on the field and a champion 24/7 off the field.
Raised in the Larrakia country of Darwin, he was the first Indigenous player recruited from the Northern Territory to have a real impact on the AFL.
A pioneer for his people ahead of his time, he was a courageous voice in the early AFL fight against racism in football and a leader of all men. Forever the Godfather of Indigenous players, he taught right and wrong, and had a profound influence on the Club as a player and coach.
Coach Robert Walls said it best: “Just the most outstanding person and football person that I’ve coached.”
A creative midfielder or a dashing defender, with skill beyond most and courage to match, he was a member of the AFL Indigenous and Northern Territory Teams of the Century, the 1991-93 Bears Club Champion and now a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame… MICHAEL McLEAN
📸 Image: Michael McLean
MARTIN PIKE
He could have been a Brisbane player once, twice and three times before he was... but when he finally was Martin Pike was a star. A triple premiership star in 2001-02-03.
Hand-picked by coach Leigh Matthews for his versatility, the former Melbourne, Fitzroy and North Melbourne utility landed in Brisbane in 2001 and in four years played 97 of a possible 101 games … 13 finals, four grand finals and three premierships… one of the best recruits in club history.
After an earlier flag at North he finished with four – only 21 players have more.
Just as the coach wanted, he played everywhere – tall or small – always with great effect. The original ‘Mr Fix-It’. He was uncompromising and provided an extra hard edge to a side that was just slipping into top gear when he arrived. His teammates loved him.
He played 27 finals in his 247 games overall - only 18 players have played more.
He’ll forever hold a special place in Lions history – as the very last winner of Fitzroy’s best & fairest award in 1996.
Welcome to the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame... MARTIN PIKE
📸 Image: Martin Pike
CLARK KEATING
Clark Keating… they called him ‘Mr September’ for a very good reason… He was. At his best when it mattered most. Charging in at the centre bounce and thumping the ball forward, he was a veritable weapon and a key figure in the Brisbane Lions triple premiership sides of 2001-02-03.
A one-time State basketball junior and schoolboy rugby union player from the Gold Coast, he was signed by the Brisbane Bears at 15 in 1991 but didn’t play in the AFL until 1996. And after a starring role in the 1999 finals, just as he was ready to go, he missed the entire 2000 season through injury.
But it was as if he was just getting ready for his calling… finals football. And although he played only 55 of a possible 101 games in the four grand final seasons of 2001-02-03-04 the man they call ‘Crackers’ was a grand final star every time… only Voss, Black, Lappin and Michael polled better in the big ones. And his 2002 performance in the wet against Collingwood was one of the all-time best.
Later a coach with the Lions AFL and AFLW sides, and now a Lions Hall of Famer… CLARK KEATING
📸 Image: Clark Keating
DANIEL BRADSHAW
Daniel Bradshaw was perhaps the most under-rated and under-stated star in the AFL for a decade. Quiet, private and media-shy, he happily lived in the shadow of Alastair Lynch and Jonathan Brown during the golden era of the Brisbane Lions, content just to go about his business… kicking goals.
In the combined Brisbane/Fitzroy history of nearly 1500 players he ranks fifth all-time in goals with 496, behind only Lynch Jack Moriarty Brown and Bernie Quinlan
And which of this superstar quintet had most top three finishes in club goal-kicking year-by-year? None other than the Wodonga powerhouse who was drafted at #56, debuted at 17 and wore #36 with pride. Eleven times he finished on the dais. And he missed two entire seasons through injury.
Quick on the lead, with a mighty leap, a vice-like pair of hands, a reliable kick from all ranges and the best conversion rate of the group on record, he was a wonderfully consistent player in arguably the best team of all-time.
A premiership player in 2001 and 2003, he had a personal best haul of nine goals in a game and 75 goals in a season in 2009. So highly was he regarded he played for Victoria in the 2008 Hall of Fame Tribute Match.
A forever Lions fan favourite and now a member of the Hall of Fame… DANIEL BRADSHAW
📸 Image: Daniel Bradshaw
SIMON BLACK LEGEND
In 2003 Simon Black delivered possibly the best AFL grand final performance in history… a record 39 possessions, 25 contested, nine tackles, nine clearances and a goal to win the Norm Smith Medal as the Brisbane Lions completed an extraordinary AFL premiership hat-trick.
It was a day that confirmed his team’s standing as perhaps the best of all-time, and a day that etched the name ‘Black’ into football history. A great among the greats.
For 16 years and a Brisbane record 322 games, he was a superstar. A match-winner who found a way when others couldn’t. Who won the football in the toughest contest. Who had an uncanny sense of the moment, a rare vision and an ability to hit a target on his trusty left foot like very few. And a team player first and always.
Born in Mt.Isa, raised in Perth and a Queenslander since 1998, Simon Black did it all in football.
He won the Brownlow Medal in 2002, was second in 2007 and 08, fourth in 2009 and sixth in 2005, and polled 178 career votes – the most ever by a Lion and 15th all-time.
Forever a member of the leadership group, he was a three-time Merrett/Murray Medallistfive-time runner-upthree-time All-Australian, and member of the famous ‘Fab Four’ along with Voss, Lappin and Akermanis. They had it all.
The numbers don’t lie. He had 7580 possessions all-time – most for the Lions by a long way and 16th in the AFL all-time. He had 30 possessions in a game 59 times in an era when 30 was like the modern 40. He kicked 171 goals, played in 20 finals and a club record 174 wins. A star to the very end with two Brownlow votes in his last game.
A father of three, humble beyond humble, it’s been one accolade after another … WA Sports Star of the Year in 2002, Queensland Sport Hall of Fame 2016, WA Football Hall of Fame in 2017, and the AFL Hall of Fame in 2020.
Now, officially part of the Lions Hall of Fame as the Club’s fifth Legend after Kevin Murray, Haydn Bunton, Michael Voss and Garry Wilson… SIMON BLACK
📸 Image: Simon Black
JONATHAN BROWN - LEGEND
It will forever be one of football’s saddest memories that Jonathan Brown’s career ended on a stretcher, carried from the Gabba semi-conscious in 2014 after another bone-crunching head knock. Yet in a crazy sort of way it was right. Because that was ‘Browny’.
He was as combative a figure as the game has seen. An aerobic beast, a wonderful pair of hands and an unerring kick for goal, he had all the skills. And he was fearless. Often to his own detriment.
An inspirational leader, he gave everything he had to his team and his club through a career of 256 games from 2000-2014. A dominant figure in the toughest role at centre half forward, he was as good as any in the game through his prime.
A triple premiership player at 21 and cornerstone of the Lions’ golden run, he spent seven years as club captain, was a three-time club champion twice All-Australian and was twice voted AFLPA Best Captain by his peers. Three times he was voted Most Courageous – and it could have been more.
Five times the Lions’ leading goal-kicker and the 2007 Coleman Medalist, he kicked a Brisbane record 10 goals in one game and a Brisbane record 594 goals all-time - third most across the entire Lions family behind Alastair Lynch and Fitzroy’s Jack Moriarty.
His AFL Mark of the Year in 2002 – running back with the flight, throwing himself almost recklessly into an oncoming pack and clutching the ball to his chest – will never be forgotten.
And all in maroon, blue and gold, a father/son fairytale because Brian Brown was a Fitzroy man.
A country boy at heart and a father of three, he was one of the game’s most popular figures, respected and admired by friend and foe and comfortable in any company.
A Queensland Sport Hall of Famer in 2018, a Lions Hall of Famer in 2019 and an AFL Hall of Famer in 2020… and now his beloved club’s sixth Hall of Fame Legend… Kevin Murray, Haydn Bunton, Michael Voss, Garry Wilson, Simon Black… and JONATHAN BROWN
📸 Image: Simon Black
