As the 2024 AFL Season approaches, we have looked through the Fixture and picked out some of our key blockbusters up until Round 16.
The Lions will play in front of a home crowd at the Gabba 11 times, with two trips to Perth, three to Adelaide, five to Melbourne and one each to Canberra and the Gold Coast.
Carlton - Opening Round at the Gabba (Friday March 8)
The season kicks off in style with a 2023 Preliminary final rematch against Carlton, coached by one of Brisbane’s favourite sons and triple premiership captain, Michael Voss and his Blues.
Carlton captain Patrick Cripps and the Blues will look largely the same from the side which travelled to Brisbane on the penultimate weekend of last season.
Reining Coleman medallist, Charlie Curnow will take on Lions co-captain Harris Andrews and his band of defenders, and with Jack Payne expected to be back in the best 23 - it will be a key matchup for the Lions.
The midfield battle will be an exciting watch with 2023 Brownlow Medallist and Brisbane’s other co-captain Lachie Neale teaming up with fellow midfielders Josh Dunkley and Hugh McCluggage to do battle with Carlton’s midfield brigade of Cripps, Sam Walsh and Adam Cerra.
In the forward it will be the height of the Lions tall targets Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood, combined with the pace and agility of Charlie Cameron which will give the Blues headaches with all signs leading toward a grandstand finish to open the 2024 AFL season.
Collingwood – Round 3 Easter Thursday at the Gabba (Thursday March 29)
An Easter Thursday tradition will have an added bit of spice this year as Collingwood travel to the Gabba in a 2023 Grand Final rematch.
A heartbreaking four-point loss on the last Saturday in September will be burning for Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and the Lions as they look to avenge this in front of a jampacked Gabba crowd.
With key matchups across the ground, 2023 Brisbane Lions Finals Player of the Year Keidean Coleman will look to replicate his Grand Final performance.
While the Lions medium forwards in Cam Rayner, Zac Bailey and Cal Ah Chee will be looking to cause the Collingwood defence problems.
Both outfits should line up in similar fashion to the two sides who met last year’s Grand Final with plenty to play for in Round 3 AFL action.
Melbourne – Round 5, at the MCG, (Thursday April 11)
In what has become a fierce rivalry in recent years, the Lions will make the trip to the MCG to take on the Melbourne Demons under Thursday night lights.
2023 produced some classic battles between these two sides, with the lights going out at the Gabba in Round 2, with the Dees mounting a huge comeback once play resumed only to fall 11 points short.
In the return bout at The ‘G, the Dees came from behind again but this time pipping the Lions at the post by one-solitary point.
The midfield battle, as always, will be intriguing one with inside midfielder, Jarrod Berry playing a lockdown role on Clayton Oliver on a number of occasions.
Defender Brandon Starcevich will resume his battle with Demons live-wire forward Kozzie Pickett, while Hipwood and Daniher will have to tackle the close attention from key defenders Steven May and Jake Lever.
Both sides have class across the park and as always it will be a heated contest with plenty to play for as the Lions looks to get the job done at the home of footy.
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GWS Giants – Round 7 at Manuka Oval, Thursday April 25 (ANZAC Day)
A special trip to the Nation’s capital for the Lions in Round 7 with an ANZAC Day clash with last year’s Preliminary finalists, the GWS GIANTS
It will be the first time since 2014 that the Lions will play on the day where Australia stops to pay its respect to all the men and women who have served for our country.
These two sides only met once in 2023 with the Lions getting the job done over an inexperienced GWS outfit who was yet to make its run.
The GIANTS flew in the back half of last season riding their orange wave all the way to the Preliminary Final meaning this time around it presents as a heavyweight matchup.
GIANTS’ skipper Toby Greene will be one to watch out for, for Lions players and fans alike.
At the other end of the ground Brisbane’s explosive forward Charlie Cameron, who booted seven goals in this clash last season, will pose an equal number of problems for the Orange team.
Gold Coast – Round 8 at the Gabba, Sunday May 5 (QClash)
The QClash, for the first time in 11 encounters, saw the Gold Coast SUNS able to wrangle it from the Lions grasp in 2023.
A trend Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and his troops will be looking to discontinue this year.
With the arrival of Damien Hardwick on the Coast to coach the SUNS the AFL world will have all eyes on this matchup as the little brother down the M1 will look to take it up to the Lions for the second straight clash.
Gold Coast’s Touk Miller and Lions utility Dayne Zorko will re-ignite their rivalry once again, it is a feud which dates back so far, we aren’t sure who threw the first barb.
Lions Co-Captain Andrews, a Brisbane boy born and raised, will look to fly the flag and shutdown what shapes to be a potent SUNS forward line.
With the QClash Cup and bragging rights on the line, this is one contest Lions fans won’t want to miss.
Port Adelaide – Round 15 at the Adelaide Oval, Saturday June 22
In Round 1, 2023 it was Port Adelaide who was able to tear us apart, but revenge was sweet with a Qualifying Final win at the Gabba.
The Lions will travel down to Adelaide Oval to take on the Power in a super-charged clash between two of the most consistent teams in the last three years.
With a midfield full of young guns, the Power pose a threat right across every line, but the battle in the middle will be key to coming away with the four points.
Led by ball magnet Lachie Neale, the Lions will look to take a scalp away from their Gabba fortress as we reach the middle of the season before the whips begin to crack leading into finals.
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