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 on 14 June 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, with 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.
And now he is the sixth legend in the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame, following Simon Black, who was also elevated to Legend status tonight at tonight’s Hall of Fame / 20-Year Premiership Reunion, and previous legends Kevin Murray, Haydn Bunton, Michael Voss and Garry Wison.
Brown was a triple premiership player at 21, a cornerstone of the Lions’ 2001-02-03 golden run and seven years the club captain. He was a three-time club champion and twice All-Australian – vice-captain in 2007 – and was twice voted AFLPA Best Captain by his peers. Three times he was voted Most Courageous – and it could have been more.
That he captained the Victorian State of Origin side in the 2008 AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match said it all about his standing in the game.
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 - second most across the entire Lions family behind 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. A ‘Legend’ in the Mark of the Year Hall of Fame.
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, Brown was one of the game’s most popular figures, respected and admired by friend and foe and comfortable in any company. An entertaining and influential member of the AFL media.
Now 41 and a father of three, back living on the Gold Coast after a work-related stint in Melbourne, Brown has followed the same path as Black, having been inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Famer in 2018, the Lions Hall of Fame in 2019, the AFL Hall of Fame in 2020 and the Queensland Football Hall of Fame in 2023. And now a living Lions Legend.
