Little did Dayne Beams know that as he lined up a long shot at goal after the final siren against North Melbourne last Sunday he had a piece of Club history resting on his boot.
Only once in 715 Brisbane Bears/Lions games had a Brisbane player had 30 possessions and kicked six goals in the same game.
It was the Club’s inaugural signing in the Bears era, Mark Williams. And it was right back in the Club’s second game against Geelong at Kardinia Park in 1987.
In the 716th game on Sunday, Beams could have become the second. He had 30 possessions and five goals as he lined up from outside 50m to close out the Round 11 game against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.
It wasn’t out of range for the former captain. So comfortable was he with the distance that he went the drop punt rather than the old-fashion barrel.
But he didn’t quite get it and it fell well short.
So, he had to be content with a
Instead of joining the 30/6 club with Williams he joined the 30/5 club with Williams and Brownlow Medallist Jason Akermanis, who had 35 possessions and kicked five goals against Geelong at the Gabba in 2005.
Beams’ five goals against North was also a career-best, surpassing four previous hauls of four.
It was also the first time since 2013 a Lions player has kicked five or more goals in a game.
The last haul of that magnitude was Ash McGrath’s six goals against Geelong at Kardinia Park in the last game of that
Beams’ superb 32/5 double, which bettered his 32/4 double against Gold Coast in Round 21 last year, also saw him join replacement captain Dayne Zorko as just the second player in Brisbane history to have had 30 possessions and kick four goals in a game for the Club twice.
And it made Beams the first Queenslander to have had 30/4 (or better) three times overall. He also reached this rare statistical double with 34 disposals and four goals in 2012 playing with Collingwood.
The other three Brisbane players in the 30/4 club with Williams, Akermanis, Beams and Zorko are Mark Withers (1988), Michael Voss (1996) and Tim Notting (2001).
Two other Queenslanders in addition to Beams, Zorko, Akermanis and Voss to have had a 30/4 double have been St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt (2014) and David Armitage (2013).
Beams outstanding solo effort against North earned him seven votes in the 2018 AFLCA Coach’s Player of the Year Award and sees him lead the Lions' vote count at the halfway mark of the season.
Beams has 25 votes, having figured five times in the votes as awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 by each coach after each match.
Zorko and Stefan Martin each have 22 votes from four times in the votes, and Harris Andrews is next best with 10 votes from three times in the votes.
Other Lions players to have figured in the weekly votes have been: Hugh McCluggage 9 votes (polled once), Charlie Cameron 9 (3), Darcy Gardiner 5 (3), Tom Cutler 5 (1), Mitch Robinson 4 (1), Lewis Taylor 3 (1), Jarrod Berry 2 (1) and Eric Hipwood 1 (1).
