They called it the “Miracle on Grass”. It was that and more as Ash McGrath lived every young boy’s football fantasy when he kicked a 53m goal after the siren for a record-breaking comeback win … all in his 200th game.
When the scoreboard 22 minutes into the third quarter showed the Cats 52 points up at 13-10 to 5-6 it looked like being the comfortable win the pundits had forecast.
Instead it turned into one of football’s great comebacks, and the headline story in this week’s ‘Lions Rewind.’
With the Lions originally scheduled to play the Geelong at Kardinia Park on Saturday night before the Coronavirus lockdown some of the big moments in the history between the two clubs is the topic of edition four.
The Lions were coming off a 40-point loss to Fremantle in Perth but with Jonathan Brown and Daniel Merrett returning from suspension and Brent Moroney back from injury they fielded their best side 'on paper' in many weeks.
All three would play a key role in a remarkable win. Likewise Simon Black, who a week earlier had played his 319th game to break Marcus Ashcroft’s Brisbane club record.
Only Daniel Rich, Dayne Zorko and Ryan Lester of the current players were involved, along with Jed Adcock, Black, Merrett and Brent Staker, now on the Lions coaching panel.
Allen Christensen, now in his sixth year in Brisbane, was in the Geelong side along with Josh Hunt, now head coach of the Lions Academy. And Chris Scott, of course, was in his second year as Geelong coach and making his second visit to the Gabba in charge of the enemy.
The 52-point deficit with 40 minutes to play presented a huge hurdle. Never had the club come back from so far behind. Their best to that point had been 51 points against Hawthorn at the Gabba in 1995.
Astonishingly, 29 minutes into the final quarter, with three minutes to play, scores were level.
With seconds left Hunt went wide to Joel Selwood. He went long to Dawson Simpson, who played on quickly to Corey and Corey sent it long to the square.
“A mark here will win the game,” said an Anthony Hudson in commentary. There was a mark, but not to Geelong. Merrett edged out James Podsiadly and hung on. A beauty.
Merrett hesitated as Healy said “you’ve got to go big fella” and, called to play on, he fired a quick handpass to a 19-year-old Elliot Yeo. He found Black, who swung onto his trusty left, looked inboard and picked out Patfull in the middle of the ground.
There was no time to spare. Patfull got it to Adcock and Adcock shot a handpass to the running Zorko as he fell to the ground. Zorko, so cool, fired a 35m pass to a leading McGrath.
The siren sounded. Geelong were one point up. It all rested with McGrath.
The eighth biggest comeback win in AFL history rested on his right boot. He kicked from about 53m, stood and watched as it sailed over the goal umpire’s head.
“The miracle on grass,” screamed Hudson. “The Brisbane Lions have kicked eight goals in the last quarter … at the 11th hour they have won … anything is possible after this.”
McGrath, who finished with three goals from eight possessions, was numb when he spoke in the locker room shortly after. "It's a boyhood dream, everyone does it when they're a small kid. You always dream of kicking the winning goal to get your team over the line. It's just a surreal feeling at the moment."
It was an incredible night. Do yourself a favour and check out the highlights below.
Brisbane have played Geelong 49 times for 19 wins, a draw and 29 losses. They’ve been on the receiving end of some big losses but, oddly, have shared some of the club’s biggest moments with the Cats. Not all good, but certainly noteworthy.
THE BIG RIDE
If you were looking at a prize for the second-best Brisbane v Geelong game you wouldn’t have to go back too far. About eight months to Round 22 last year.
It was another great win in one of the clubs greatest games. Second-placed Brisbane and ladder leaders Geelong.
They were 18 points down with 18 mins to play before they kicked the last three goals via Jarryd Lyons, Charlie Cameron and Lincoln McCarthy.
With 87 seconds to play, in his first game against the club which had been home for seven years, McCarthy soared over the back of Jack Henry to pull in a chest mark. A mark Lions fans will never forget.
The whole Gabba fell silent as he lined up and then erupted when he converted from 30m to clinch a 10-15 (75) to 10-14 (74) win that left the Lions on top of the ladder for the first time since Rounds 1-2 in 2007.
They were a game clear on top of the ladder and set to play Richmond in Round 23 for their first minor premiership. And although it didn’t play out quite so well thereafter there were so many great stories from a win that will forever be remembered.
A loud sell-out crowd of 35,608 was the biggest ever against Geelong at the Gabba, and the biggest overall at the Gabba since 2010. The average 2019 attendance was 24,745 – up from 18,406 in 2018.
Charlie Cameron kicked five goals to give him 15 in Rounds 20-21-22 to join the Lions 50-Goal Club, Lyons topped 500 possessions for his first season in Brisbane, and Marcus Adams stretched his unbeaten run with the club to 7-0, second only to Dylan McLaren's 9-0 in 2001-02-03.
Stefan Martin had his first win against Geelong after losing 10 in a row, and the Lions beat Geelong for the first time since 2013 after eight losses in a row. Dan McStay played his 100th game as the rebuilding Lions fielded a side with 11 100-gamers for the first time since 2010.
It was magnificent. So magnificent that Leigh Matthews visited the Lions rooms after the match for the first time since he stepped down from the coaching role to give Chris Fagan a huge hug.
BROWNY’S COLEMAN MEDAL
Only one Brisbane player has won the Coleman Medal for the League’s leading goal-kicker in the home-and-away season. Jonathan Brown in 2007.
Brown had gone into the final round with 70 goals, ahead of Fremantle’s Matthew Pavlich (68) and Hawthorn’s Lance Franklin (67).
Brown, who had played his Under 18 football with the Geelong Falcons in the then TAC Cup, kicked seven goals against Geelong at the Gabba on the Saturday night.
Pavlich kicked four against Port Adelaide in the time slot, leaving Brown (77) ahead of Pavlich (72), with Franklin to play against Sydney the following day.
Franklin kicked just one, ensuring Brown won the Brownlow.
BLACKY’S TRIPLE CENTURY
Among what is now 1457 players who have represented Fitzroy, Brisbane Bears and Brisbane Lions, including 22 Fitzroy/Brisbane double-ups, only four have played 300 games for the club. And that’s including Alastair Lynch, who played 120 games for Fitzroy in a separate era, 32 games for the Bears and 154 games for the Lions.
First there was Fitzroy’s Kevin Murray in 1973, then Marcus Ashcroft in 2003 and Lynch in 2004.
In Round 5 2012, when Brisbane hosted Geelong at the Gabba, Simon Black became the fourth. And the first at the Gabba.
Sadly, torrential rain throughout spoiled the occasion and so did a disappointing performance from the home side.
They were goalless in the first half, trailing 0-5 to 7-5 at the long break, and didn’t kick their first goal until 20 minutes into the third quarter.
Oddly, the Lions won contest football and had more tackles than the Cats, but Tom Hawkins, with six goals for Geelong, added the polish to his side the Lions lacked.
Black, 25 days beyond his 33rd birthday, was the second-youngest of the club’s four 300-gamers. Lynch (36/28) was oldest from Murray (34/363), Black and Ashcroft (31/228).
Black had the best win/loss ratio at the time, with 164 wins, 4 draws and 132 losses. Then came Lynch (157-2-141), Ashcroft (142-5-153) and Murray (112-2-186).
Lynch was the only one of the four to enjoy a win in his 300th game.
