Among the countless feel-good stories from the Club’s 2003 Grand Final triumph, there are two prevailing memories that still stand out for three-time Brisbane Lions Premiership Coach Leigh Matthews. 

Matthews joined current Lions Senior Coach Michael Voss and a selection of other former Premiership heroes at the Gabba on Thursday to help launch the Club’s 10-year celebration of going Back to Back to Back. 

Find out the full details surrounding the Club's Three-Peat celebration event

The inaugural inductee into the Lions Hall of Fame took little time in sharing his fondest memories from the 50-point demolition of Collingwood. 

“There were a couple of enduring memories,” Matthews recalled. 

“One was at 45 minutes before the siren to start the game, we still didn’t know who our 21st player was going to be - that’s when Nigel Lappin was very uncertain.” 

“We didn’t know whether he was going to play until that close to the game - you wouldn’t want to go through that sort of uncertainty again.” 

“Then, in the pressure of Grand Final day, Simon (Black) played probably as good a game as he’s ever played.” 

“Apart from the fact that the team won pretty comfortably, they’re the two most enduring memories of that day.” 

Matthews is no stranger to being part of VFL/AFL Premierships, having won four (1971, 1976, 1978, 1983) as a player with Hawthorn, and four as a Senior Coach (he also coached Collingwood to the 1990 flag) 

He said the Lions’ achievement in winning three consecutive Premierships was simply remarkable, and was a feat that other great teams of the modern era have not been able to replicate. 

“Most premiership windows are (open for) 5-6 years, and in the five or six years this group had their Premiership window, they got to four Grand Finals and of course won three in a row,” Matthew said. 

“None of the other teams - even the Hawthorn team of the (80s) era - could win three in a row. So the ability to actually get to that final day and win it in three consecutive years is some achievement.” 

Matthews believed the Lions’ playing group boasted a perfect mix of champions and role players, who together achieved an extraordinary feat that will long remembered in AFL history. 

“Whatever you think now, you’ll think more of it in the decades to come, because history says it doesn’t happen,” Matthews said. 

“There were just some magnificent players brought into the Club during that decade from the late 90s and early 2000s.” 

“There were champions and All Australians, who were then backed up by fantastic role players that may not have been All Australians, but were still terrific parts of that group.”