If you offered Oscar McInerney one wish for his 150^th AFL game this week against the GWS Giants in Sydney you’d get a very quick and simple answer …. Make it better than his 100^th game.

Because his 100^th in the 2022 elimination final at the Gabba lasted all of 90 seconds. McInerney was concussed in a head clash with Richmond midfielder Jack Ross and had to watch as the ruckless Lions scraped home by two points.

The loss of the popular ruckman aside, it was a cracker. The Lions, ahead 2-0 in the hit-outs after two minutes, lost the hit-outs 14-55 from that point on as Dan McStay (10), Joe Daniher (3) and Eric Hipwood (1) battled manfully against Toby Nankervis (41) and Ben Miller (41).

The lead changed four times in the next 11 minutes. Charlie Cameron put Brisbane in front 21 seconds into the final term before Jack Riewoldt replied for Richmond. Daniher goaled for Brisbane and then Riewoldt hit back again. And there were still 20 minutes to play.

With time almost up, Keidean Coleman picked out Zac Bailey on the 50m arc with a beautifully weighted pass. He went long to the square where the ball came off the pack and into the hands of Daniher, who dribbled through the winner from about 3m.

McInerney missed the semi-final against Melbourne at the MCG the following week, when Darcy Fort deputized in the ruck in a 13-point win, and returned for the preliminary final against Geelong at the MCG, when the battle-weary visitors went down to the eventual premiers.

McInerney has missed only one game since then – this year’s Round 7 clash with GWS in Canberra when they copped a 54-point hiding in what became the turning point of their season.

The 30-year-old Lions ruckman, who will be the 34^th 150-gamer in Brisbane history, will go into Saturday’s sudden-death semi-final against the Giants at the Sydney Showgrounds as the equal third most-durable 150-gamer in club history. He’s missed just 10 games since his debut also against the Giants at the Showgrounds in Round 6 2018.

Only Dayne Zorko (4) and Hugh McCluggage (5) have missed fewer games along the way.  Joel Patfull (10) was similarly durable, while Nigel Lappin (11), Harris Andrews (17), Marcus Ashcroft (18) and Eric Hipwood (19) also missed fewer than 20 games.

Yet McInerney, having debuted at 23 and set to play on Saturday night 66 days beyond his 30^th birthday, will still be the club’s fifth-oldest 150-gamer. Older have been Roger Merrett (36/9), Alastair Lynch (34/94), Richard Champion (30/95) and Zorko (30/77). Lappin has been the club’s youngest 150^th game at 24 years 52 days from Ashcroft (24/347) and Voss (25/38).

McInerney will get to 150 games guaranteed the sixth-best win/loss ratio, now at 95-1-63, with a chance to move up to equal fifth. Ahead of him are Simon Black (105-1-44), Luke Power (100-1-49), Jonathan Brown (99-2-49), Tim Notting (97-1-52) and Chris Johnson (96-3-51).

Among 350 Brisbane players all-time McInerney will be the 34^th to 150 games, which is a milestone that carries automatic life membership.

Having been picked up by the Lions as a smokey at pick #37 in the 2016 Rookie Draft, he will be the club’s first rookie to 150 games. Aside from inaugural captain Roger Merrett, who joined the AFL before the introduction of the draft, Tom Rockliff is the only other 150-gamer not taken in the National Draft. He was pick #5 in the 2008 Pre-Season Draft.

Merrett was the first Brisbane player to 150 games. Having played 149 games for Essendon, he reached 150 for the then Bears in Round 5 1996 at the Gabba.

Ironically, it fell in the club’s last game with merger partners Fitzroy and produced the biggest Brisbane ‘win’ in a 150^th game – by 109 points. Merrett kicked five goals and the Brownlow Medal votes went to Michael Voss (28 possessions 2 goals), Craig Lambert (32 possessions 1 goal) and Nigel Lappin (30 possessions 3 goals).

The club has a 21-12 win/loss record in 150^th games – and has won seven of the last eight.

McInerney will be the 6^th Brisbane player to celebrate his 150^th in a final. And in a good omen, the previous five all won. Marcus Ashcroft scraped through by a point in the first Gabba final against Essendon in 1996, and Voss and Lappin, the only Brisbane players to mark their 150^th with a teammate, shared a 34-point win over the Dogs at the Gabba in 2000.

Lynch kicked five goals in a 56-point Gabba win over Port in 2002, and Simon Black marked his 150^th with entry to his fourth consecutive grand final via a nine-point win over Geelong at the MCG.

Only three players who did not start their AFL career at Brisbane played 150 games for the club – Merrett, Lynch and Johnson.

Merrett has been the club’s oldest 150-gamer at 36 years 9 days, from Lynch (34/194), Champion (30/95) and Dayne Zorko (30/46),

McInerney will be the first Lions player to play his 150^th game against GWS, leaving Collingwood the only club not to feature in a milestone game of this level. And, by extension, McInerney’s 150th will be Brisbane’s first 150^th at the Showgrounds – the same venue where he debuted in Round 6 2018.

He’ll be the 12^th Brisbane player to reach 150 under coach Chris Fagan. Leigh Matthews (14) heads the list from John Northey (2), Fagan, Michael Voss (4), caretaker coach Merrett and the outrider who represents one of the great trivia questions.

All this comes after he grabbed the record for most games by a Brisbane ruckman when he played his 140th in Round 16 against Melbourne at the Gabba, going past triple premiership hero Clark Keating at 139.

McInerney’s 150^th game in his 13^th final comes after an outstanding 2024 season in which he was desperately unlucky not to make the All-Australian squad, when Melbourne’s Max Gawn, Collingwood’s Darcy Cameron and North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri were preferred before Gawn was the only ruckman included in the 22-man team.

That despite the fact McInerney polled 29 votes in the AFL Coaches Player of the Year Award to rank 5^th among ruckmen behind Gawn (56), St.Kilda’s Rowan Marshall (48), Sydney’s Brodie Grundy (43) and Xerri (31), and ahead of Cameron (26), Carlton’s Tom DeKoning (25), Fremantle’s Luke Jackson (24), GWS’ Kieren Briggs (23) and Richmond’s Toby Nankervis (22).

Having averaged 32.7 hit-outs, 3.3 tackles, 5.4 clearances, 10.43 contested possessions and 3.6 one-percenters and 0.5 goal assists, the Brisbane #46 was prominent in all key statistics for ruckmen.

He attended more ruck contests than all opponents except Xerri, and among 25 players who had a minimum 200 hit-outs, he ranked 4^th for hit-outs, 9^th for tackles, 4^th for clearances, 5^th for contested possessions, 8^th for contested marks, 3^rd for one-percenters and 3^rd for goal assists.

And, with a free kick differential of ‘plus 23’ from a season count of 40 free kicks ‘for’ and only 17 free kicks ‘against’, McInerney ranked 4^th among all players. Only Hawthorn’s Dylan Moore (45-22 – plus 33), GWS’ James Peatling (35-9 – plus 26) and Gawn (48-24 – plus 24) had a better free kick differential.