By the final round of the 1991 season, West Coast was four games clear in
Fitzroy was last-placed, having won just three games for the season and holding a percentage of 65 with a team of 16 new players that year.
It had been a very tough season for Fitzroy, with the Club also launching the 'Save the Lions' appeal.
On that Saturday afternoon at Princess Park, the Eagles started strong and led Fitzroy by three goals at quarter time.
The Eagles coasted into the main break with a 26-point lead, having held the Lions to just a solitary goal.
But after the long break, the Lions found something.
With West Coast minds already turning to the upcoming finals series of 1991, Fitzroy unleashed a 6.5 to 0.3 third-quarter to lead 12 points at the final change.
In a pulsating final term, Fitzroy found a couple of unlikely goalkicking heroes in Brett Stephens and Dean Harding, who respectively kicked five and a career-best four majors.
Ross Lyon received three Brownlow votes for his influential performance. While Matt Rendell's final game for Fitzroy will be famously remembered as the match that helped the Lions escape the 1991 wooden spoon.
As the final siren rung through Princess Park, Lions fans jumped the fence and swarmed to celebrate the ten-point win with the team.
Fitzroy Lions v West Coast Eagles
Round 24, 1991: 14.15 (99) to 12.17 (89)
