So sadly denied a place in the 2023 finals campaign, Will Ashcroft will get one up on his famous footballing father with his belated finals debut on Saturday night.
Ashcroft Jnr, nine games into his comeback from a knee reconstruction, will get his first taste of September action in his 28th game against Carlton in Saturday night’s elimination final at the Gabba.
The silky-skilled 20-year-old, who has quickly and unobtrusively worked his way into top form, will take a 20-7 win/loss record into his first finals outing.
It will come 29 years and three days after his father Marcus Ashcroft made his finals debut in his 127th game after an apprenticeship which had dealt him a taxing 36-1-89 record.
Ironically, Ashcroft Snr’s first final was also against Carlton. It was the then Brisbane Bears’ first AFL final in 1995 and came after they won six of their last seven home-and-away games to sneak into eighth spot only to run into a hot Blues side.
After a nervous start they pushed Carlton to 13 points in a 1 v 8 qualifying final, proving themselves the second-best side in September as Carlton thumped North Melbourne by 62 points and Geelong by 61 points to win the flag.
Ashcroft Jnr has snuck under the radar in his return to football, and the last three games he had 85 possessions from hauls of 29-26-30. Of his teammates only Lachie Neale, with 24-22-40, has had more. One more.
Kai Lohmann and Logan Morris will also make their finals debut on Saturday night to add an extra layer to their own very special 2024 seasons.
Lohmann, third in the Telstra AFL Rising Star Award this week, is enjoying the rewards of a courageous, big-picture decision 11 months ago.
Having played two games in 2022 and six games in 2023, he was the only top 20 pick from the 2021 draft who had not signed a contract extension 12 months ago, and was linked to rivals clubs Essendon, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.
But after rejecting guaranteed AFL opportunities elsewhere to back himself in Brisbane he has played every game. And after being the substitute in the first three games he’s kicked 27 goals to become a key member of the Lions forward set-up.
The Morris story is like a kid’s fairytale. He’s played 15 of a possible 16 games after one of the AFL’s most famous debuts in borrowed boots against Gold Coast in Round 8 after having played a full game in the Reserves and enjoyed a feed at McDonald’s on his way to the Gabba.
And with two more goals he will become just the sixth Brisbane player overall and the third in 29 years to kick 20 goals in his first season in the AFL. Others have been:-
Laurence Schache – 47 goals in 17 games in 1991
John Hutton – 43 goals in 18 games in 1992
Nathan Buckley – 21 goals in 20 games in 1993
Craig McRae – 28 goals in 23 games in 1995
Todd Banfield – 27 goals in 22 games in 2010
Cam Rayner – 20 goals in 22 games in 2018
Two goals would also see Morris join McRae, now the Collingwood coach, as the only Brisbane players to kick 20 goals in their first season – and play in the finals.
Indeed, only 20 of 351 Brisbane players all-time played in the finals in their first AFL campaign. Others have been the current trio of Darcy Wilmot, Jack Payne and Jaxon Prior, plus Jason Akermanis, Matt Austin, Trent Bartlett, Craig Bolton, Jonathan Brown, Keidean Coleman, Robert Copeland, Damien Cupido, Danny Dickfos, Trent Knobel, Tristan Lynch, Joel Macdonald, Jack Redden, Daniel Rich, Sam Sheldon and Nick Trask.
Wilmot is the only Brisbane player to debut in a final, as he did in 2022, while Richard Hadley is an equally special second on this list – after his AFL debut in Round 3 2001 he had two and half years out of the side due to injury before playing in three winning finals in 2003, including the grand final.
Payne, Coleman and Trask are next on this list, having made their finals debut in their fifth game.
Ashcroft Snr is among seven players who had to wait beyond 100 games for their first final. His 127-game wait was quicker only than Dayne Zorko (167) and Ryan Lester (140) but behind Matthew Kennedy (111), Darcy Gardiner (105), Dan McStay (102) and Jaren Brennan (100).
Payne, unseen at AFL level since Round 17 due to foot problems, is available for selection after getting through a VFL final in his return last weekend. It’s nothing new for the tall defender, who was similarly catapulted into the AFL side in the finals in 2020 and 2021 are time out.
