Forgotten in the build-up to the 2024 AFL grand final, possibly in over-exuberance and possibly in trepidation, was the enormity of the task confronting Chris Fagan and his team.
To win the flag they had to do something that the club had done only once in 38 years and 871 games … win three consecutive matches interstate.
In Rounds 18-19-20 1996 the then Brisbane Bears played three weeks in a row at Carlton’s Princes Park headquarters under coach John Northey against finals contenders Richmond, eventual premiers North Melbourne and wooden-spooners Fitzroy.
They won by 17 points, 18 points and 87 points to climb from 5th on the ladder to 3rd in a campaign which later ended with a preliminary final loss to North in what was Roger Merrett’s last game.
It is the only cleansweep from 11 extended interstate travel assignments handed out by the AFL in the fixture since the club’s formation in 1987. Nine times they played three in a row, and twice in 1988 and 1989 they played four in a row.
It wasn’t unusual in the early years, when there wasn’t anything like the same fixation with fixturing equalities that exists today.
The Bears started with three games interstate in Rounds 1-2-3 1987, playing at the MCG, Geelong and the old St.Kilda headquarters at Moorabbin, before a similar thing occurred in 1988 (twice), 1989, 1993 and 1995 (twice), before it was outlawed by the AFL.
In 2000 a major Gabba upgrade meant the Lions played their first four games interstate, and in 2021 they played at Geelong, Marvel Stadium and Ballarat in Rounds 2-3-4 because the Round 3 game against Collingwood was transferred from the Gabba to Marvel due to Covid.
The triple travel of 2024 was dished up by an AFL finals system that rightfully delivers homeground advantage to higher placed sides, and only occurred because the Lions finished fifth on the home-and-away ladder.
They were always going to start their September campaign at the Gabba, and then it was going to be away for as long as they kept winning.
So after they beat Carlton (8th) at the Gabba in the qualifying final, it was GWS (4th) at Sydney Showgrounds in the semi-final, Geelong (3rd) at the MCG in the preliminary final, and Sydney (1st) at the MCG in the grand final.
It would be a tough schedule any time, but against the best sides in the competition under ‘no tomorrow’ circumstances it was like mission impossible.
Since the introduction of an eight-team finals system in 1994 only twice previously had a club won the flag from outside the top four - Adelaide in 1998 and the Western Bulldogs in 2016.
In 1998 Adelaide, fifth on the ladder, went MCG, SCG, MCG, MCG against the top four sides and won the grand final by 35 points. And in 2016 the Dogs started from seventh and played Subiaco, MCG, Sydney Showgrounds and MCG against teams that were 6th-3rd-4th-1st. The won the by 22 points.
Toss in the cumulative fatigue of a 44-point semi-final comeback against GWS and a 25-point preliminary final comeback against Geelong, and the fact that heading into the grand final Sydney had travelled only once to Melbourne in Round 23 and had an extra week off, it was a mis-match in terms of preparation.
It was a readymade excuse in waiting, but after the Swans kicked the first two goals of the grand final the Lions got stronger and stronger to claim their fourth premiership and one of the all-time great premierships in history after they’d started 0-3 and 2-5 and sat 13th on the ladder at Round 14.
It was the perfect close to a year of record club membership and record Gabba crowds, with 10 sellouts in 12 games, and completes a compelling case to say the Lions have been the League’s best club in the quarter of a century since 2000.
Brisbane’s fourth flag in that time sees them join Geelong and Hawthorn as the only four-time premiers. And their sixth grand final appearance has been bettered only by the seven grand final appearances of Sydney, who have only won two flags in 2005-12..
Fittingly, Saturday’s grand final win was the 100th win of the phenomenal 2019-24 rebuild under coach Fagan. In that time Geelong (94 wins) are next best from Port Adelaide (87), Collingwood (82), Bulldogs (78), Melbourne (77). Sydney (75) and GWS (72).
In the same period Brisbane (9) lead the finals wins count from Geelong (7), Collingwood (6), GWS (6), Richmond (6), and Fagan has won the Coach of the Year Award in 2019 and 2014, bookending wins by Ken Hinkley (2020), Simon Goodwin (2021), Craig McRae (2022) and Adam Kingsley (2023).
And they are the only club to play finals in each of the last six years.
Individually and collectively, the additions to the record books are enormous. And not just since 2000. Some go back much further.
LONGEST WAIT TO A PREMIERSHIP
Dayne Zorko and Lachie Neale became premiership players in their 277th and 272nd game respectively. They displace Marcus Ashcroft from 4th spot on the ‘longest wait for a flag’ list.
Ashcroft Snr was 268 games to the Lions’ first flag in 2001, previously behind only Hawthorn’s Shane Crawford (305 games in 2008), Collingwood/Sydney star Paul Williams (294 in 2005) and the Western Bulldogs’ Matthew Boyd (282 in 2016).
Alastair Lynch, 249 games with Fitzroy and Brisbane to his first flag in 2001, is now eighth on this list behind Melbourne/Carlton centreman Greg Wells (256 games in 1981), while Brisbane assistant coach Dale Morris is ninth. He was 230 games to the Bulldogs’ flag in 2016.
OLDEST PREMIERSHIP PLAYER
Dayne Zorko, 332 days beyond his 35th birthday on grand final day, is the second-oldest AFL premiership player since Brisbane joined the competition in 1987. Only Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck, who was 38 years 96 days in 1991 (and 36 years 98 days in 1989) has been older.
There have been three 35-year-old premiership players in this era – Brisbane’s Alastair Lynch (35 years 100 days in 2003), Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury (35/266 in 2023), and Tuck (35/92 in 1988).
Ryan Lester, aged 32 years 33 days on Saturday, is now equal fourth among the “oldies” on the Brisbane premiership list behind Zorko at 35, Lynch at 33, 34 and 35, and Shaun Hart, who was also 32 years 33 days in 2003. Marcus Ashcroft finished his career at 32 years 2 days in 2003.
WONDERBOY WILL
Will Ashcroft’s extraordinary performance to win the Norm Smith Medal on Saturday after he missed the 2023 grand final with injury catapulted him into the AFL record books. Aged 20 years 145 days, he is the second-youngest winner of the coveted best afield medal since the inaugural winner in 1979 – Carlton’s Wayne Harmes at 19 years 232 days. And, having dominated the ‘big one’ in his 31st AFL game, Ashcroft had played fewer games than all but won Norm Smith Medallist – Richmond’s Maurice Rioli won it in his 21st game in 1982. He was 24 years 24 days old.
TWO-CLUB FLAG WINNER
Josh Dunkley, the youngest member of the Western Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership side at 19 years 266 days, became the 32nd player among 13,172 AFL players all-time to win a flag at two clubs.
Two other members of this group are also Brisbane premiership players. Martin Pike won the flag with the Lions in 2001-02-03 after doing so at North Melbourne in 1999, and Blake Caracella, a member of the Lions’ 2003 side, had previously shared the same honor with Essendon in 2000.
FATHER/SON FLAG WINNERS
Marcus and Will Ashcroft became the 24th father/son pairing to win a flag. And to pre-empt the inevitable questions ahead of Levi Ashcroft’s arrival at the Lions next season after his Under-18 premiership hat-trick with the Sandringham Dragons, no – a father and two sons in the premiership club would not be first.
Only last year Collingwood’s Nick and Josh Daicos followed father Peter, a member of Collingwood’s flag-winning side in 1990. And Bill Twomey, a Collingwood premiership player in 1919, saw sons Bill Jnr, Mick and Pat win a flag together with the Pies in 1953. Michael also played in the ’58 flag.
YOUNGEST BRISBANE PREMIERSHIP PLAYER
Logan Morris, not even born when the Lions won their previous flag in 2004, became the club’s youngest premiership player at 19 years 141 days. He was the second teenager after Jonathan Brown, who was 19 years 353 days old in 2001.
Others to taste the ultimate success before their 21st birthday have been Robert Copeland (20/126 in 2001), Ash McGrath (20/130 in 2003), Will Ashcroft (20/145), Richard Hadley (20/182 in 2003), Jaspa Fletcher (20/217) and Darcy Wilmot (20/272).
LEAST EXPERIENCED PREMIERSHIP PLAYER
Logan Morris, who won a flag in his 19th game on Saturday, is now the third-least experienced Brisbane player to do so. It’s a category headed by Richard Hadley, who shared in the 2003 triumph in his fourth game, and Robert Copeland, who was a member of the 2001 flag in his 17th game.
Will Ashcroft (31 games) is next on this list, and is followed by Aaron Shattock (32 games in 2002), Ash McGrath (32 in 2003), Kai Lohmann (35), Darcy Fort (36 career games), Jonathan Brown (38 in 2001) and Jaspa Fletcher (41).
BRISBANE v SYDNEY
Brisbane’s 60-point win on Saturday was the club’s biggest over Sydney in 42 meetings post-merger, topping the 44-point margin of the 2003 preliminary final at the Olympic Stadium when Nigel Lappin suffered his broken ribs.
Brisbane’s only bigger win over Sydney in 58 meetings all-time was the club’s biggest win all-time – by 162 points at the Gabba in 1993. The overall record between the clubs now is 27-1-30.
GRAND FINAL CROWD
Saturday’s sell-out grand final crowd of 100,013 is the second-largest ever for a Brisbane game – just. The 2023 grand final against Collingwood pulled 100,024.
SECOND QUARTER SIZZLE
The Lions’ sizzling second quarter on Saturday, when they kicked 7-4 to the Swans’ 1-2 to set up the win, is the biggest by the club in any quarter in a premiership win. It bettered the six-goal bursts in the second and fourth quarters in 2003.
THE FINAL MARGIN
The 60-point win on Saturday topped the winning margins of the club’s three previous flags - 26 points against Essendon in 2001, nine points against Collingwood in 2002 and 50 points against Collingwood in 2003. It was the fourth AFL grand final decided by 60 points or more in the last six years.
AT THE MCG
Saturday’s grand final was Brisbane’s 90th game overall at the MCG, and after some horrific results at ‘headquarters’, especially in the early days, Chris Fagan’s men got it right at just the right time.
The 120-point score was the club’s 11th best all-time at the MCG, the 60-point winning margin was the fourth biggest, and the defensive effort to restrict the Swans to 60 points was sixth-best.
The club’s aggregate record at the MCG is now 22-1-67. After going 3-23 during the Bears era, and losing 18 on the trot, they’ve gone 19-1-44 as the Lions. They lost their first eight there under coach Fagan, had a breakthrough 13-point semi-final win over Melbourne in 2022, and then lost the next four. But since the 2023 grand final they’ve gone WLWW. And the only loss in that time was by one point to Collingwood in Round 23 this year, when they led by 39 points after 25 minutes.
The club is 7-9 in finals at the ‘G’ and 4-2 in grand finals.
SO MANY MARKS
The Lions had a monstrous 158 marks in Saturday’s grand final – 70 more than the Swans. Part of coach Fagan’s expert game plan, this is the second-highest mark count in Brisbane history. It was less than only the 164 marks from Round 10 against Richmond at the Gabba this year, when they won by 119 points, and equal 20th in all AFL football since the introduction of statistics in 1965.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
The dynamic four-goals on Kai Lohmann and Callum Ah Chee on Saturday are the equal second-best in a Brisbane premiership win. They equalled Alastair Lynch’s four in 2002 and 2003, leaving Jason Akermanis’ five-goal bag in 2003 as the club’s best.
Lachie Neale (35) and Will Ashcroft (30) joined an exclusive group of Lions players who have had 30-plus possessions in a premiership. It’s very exclusive – Simon Black’s 39 in his Norm Smith Medal performance of 2003 is the only other one. But Black’s 25 contested possessions in 2003 is (very) safe – Josh Dunkley had most on Saturday with 11.
Dunkley’s 11 tackles against Sydney is a club high for a premiership-winning side, going past Black (9) in 2003. Hugh McCluggage (6) and Dayne Zorko (6) also slipped into the top five, with Black’s eight tackles in 2001 and Michael Voss’ six tackles in 2002.
Neale’s nine clearance on Saturday equalled Black’s nine in 2003, while Ryan Lester’s 11 marks bettered Marcus Ashcroft’s 10 in 2002. So, too, did the 10 marks of Harris Andrews, Jarrod Berry and Dayne Zorko on Saturday.
HOMEGROWN TALENT
Seven Queenslanders in the 2024 premiership side – Harris Andrews, Will Ashcroft, Charlie Cameron, Jaspa Fletcher, Eric Hipwood, Jack Payne and Dayne Zorko – equalled the seven of 2003, when Jason Akermanis, Marcus Ashcroft, Jamie Charman, Robert Copeland, Clark Keating, Mal Michael and Michael Voss. There were six Queenslanders in 2001 (no Charman) and five in 2002 (no Charman or Copeland). And, fittingly, there’s been a Maroons man in charge each time – Voss solo in 2001-02-03 and Andrews as co-captain in 2024.
FREE KICKS
The grand final free kick count, which favoured the Lions 16-13, was the lowest in Brisbane’s four flag wins. It was 22-19 in favour of Brisbane in 2001, 16-24 against in 2002 and 13-18 against in 2003.
JUMPER NUMBERS
Seven Lions jumper numbers won their first flag on Saturday - #7 (Jarrod Berry), #26 (Conor McKenna), #28 (Jaspa Fletcher), #31 Harris Andrews, #35 (Ryan Lester), #37 (Brandon Starcevich) and #40 (Jack Payne).
At the other end of the scale, Kai Lohmann’s #1 is the first jumper to have been worn by three different premiership players – Des Headland (2002) and Blake Caracella (2003).
Ten members of the 2024 side wore a number that carried 10 predecessors through each leg of the 2001-02-03 hat-trick - #3 Joe Daniher (Michael Voss), #4 Callum Ah Chee (Craig McRae), #6 Hugh McCluggage (Luke Power), #13 Logan Morris (Martin Pike), #15 Dayne Zorko (Mal Michael), #16 Cam Rayner (Jonathan Brown), #23 Charlie Cameron (Justin Leppitsch), #32 Darcy Fort (Shaun Hart), #33 Zac Bailey (Darryl White) and #44 Darcy Wilmot (Nigel Lappin).
Four others did likewise in a number worn in two legs of the hat-trick - #5 Josh Dunkley (Brad Scott), #8 Will Ashcroft (Tim Notting),#30 Eric Hipwood (Robert Copeland) and #43 Noah Answerth (Beau McDonald). And Lachie Neale wore the #9 jumper to a flag just as Ash McGrath did in 2003.
With jumper #’s 2-10-11-12-14-19-20-22 have also triumphed on grand final day, the only jumpers from 1-50 yet to a win a flag are 17-18-21-24-25-29-38-39-41-42-45-46-47-48-49-50.
COMMON PLAYERS
Among 350 Brisbane players all-time 18 have worn the colours of Brisbane and Sydney – Jim Edmond,, Mark Roberts, Jamie Duursma, Warwick Capper, Matthew Ryan, Queenslanders Craig Potter and Brent Green, John Hutton, Matthew AhMat, Dion Scott, Shannon Corcoran, Adam Heuskes, Stefan Carey, Craig Bolton, Ben Fixter, Daniel Bradshaw, Amon Buchanan and Lewis Taylor.
ELEVEN HISTORY-MAKERS
The Lions had a club record 11 players – almost half the premiership side– who grabbed a slice of AFL history when they played every game in 2024. They joined ex-Essendon, North Melbourne and Fitzroy player John Cassin as the only players among 13,172 all-time to play 27 games in a season.
This obscure statistic came about because, in the second year of 23 home-and-away games, the Lions played a maximum four finals to equal the longest season by any club in history.
Cassin, who finished his 134-game AFL career with five games at Fitzroy in 1981-82 after 51 games at Essendon (1971-74) and 78 games at North (1977-81), was an outlier in 1977 when North and Collingwood played a drawn grand final.
While Collingwood played only three finals that year after 22 H&A games the Roos played five on route to the club’s second premiership. Cassin was only North player to play every game.
The history-making ironmen in the Lions premiership campaign were Jarrod Berry, Charlie Cameron, Joe Daniher, Josh Dunkley, Jaspa Fletcher, Ryan Lester, Kai Lohmann, Hugh McCluggage, Cam Rayner, Darcy Wilmot and Dayne Zorko.
It was Cameron’s sixth consecutive full season in an unbroken games streak which stands at 145 after two successful challenges at the AFL tribunal this year kept it alive. It’s the League’s second-longest ‘live’ steak behind the 237-game run of Collingwood’s Jack Crisp, which began with his last six games with Brisbane in 2014.
Cameron’s sixth perfect ‘attendance record’ takes him to second spot on the club’s ‘full season leaderboard’, equal with Simon Black. But he’s still four behind club record-holder Marcus Ashcroft, who played seven full years in a row from 1993-99 after playing every game in 1991 and before doing so in 2001-02.
The 11 full seasons of 2024 topped the club’s previous best of 10 in 2019, when the Lions played 22 H&A games and two finals.
