The Lions bested reigning premiers NT Thunder by 60 points in front of a two thousand-strong crowd in Sunday’s Grand Final at Yeronga, to take out its first Sate League flag since 2001.
After trailing by 18 points at the first change, the Lions kicked 19 of the next 24 goals-including a scintillating eight goal second quarter - to win convincingly.
The Joe Grant Medal for best-on-ground went to Claye Beams - who had 33 touches, six tackles, and four goals, but there were plenty of other shining lights for the home team.
Amon Buchanan was at his bullocking best; tackling ferociously, fending off countless would-be tackles, and delivering precisely on his trusty left foot. Patrick Karnezis gathered a heap of the footy, Sam Docherty rebounded relentlessly from the back half, and James Hawksley made every one of his 17 possessions count.
Jordan Lisle presented well all day, kicking five goals and pumping the footy inside 50 on six occasions, Beams bagged four goals, and Aaron Cornelius battled hard all day; plucking several strong grabs and kicking 2.3.
A Darren Ewing-inspired Thunder started by far the better of the two teams, kicking five goals to two in the first quarter to lead by 18 points at the first change.
The stocky full-forward kicked the first major of the match, and three for the term; benefitting from silver service from his midfield to take several uncontested grabs.
But from that point on Ewing-and the Thunder, were comprehensively outplayed by a white-hot Lions outfit.
John Fox started the second quarter scoreboard assault by goalling after a free kick for high contact, before Beams, Hawksley, and Stiller kicked maximums.
There were plenty of moments of champagne football during the second stanza, the Lions midfielders hot-footing through the corridor and roosting the Sherrin inside the arc seemingly at will.
The goal of the day came midway through the second term; Beams pumping a 50 metre pass to Aaron Cornelius, who gathered one-handed, pivoted, and shot off a handball into the path of Jordan Lisle who finished with a checkside worm-burner from near the fence.
But just as the Lions looked like leading by 50 at the main break, NT piled on three majors in the last three minutes of the half to slash the margin to just 13 at half time.
Any hope of an NT comeback was well-and-truly quashed in the ‘premiership quarter’, the Lions bagging six goals to one in the third term to lead by 39 points at three-quarter-time.
The quarter was highlighted by a Hawksley hanger in the centre square, and a sublime coast-to-coast goal started by Dave Cummins deep in defence, and finished off with a deadly-accurate Beams bomb from the cusp of the 50-metre arc.
The match was effectively over as a contest when the Lions kicked the first goal of the final term, and the quality of the football dropped a little from that point.
Cal Bartlett continued his recent good goal scoring form, kicking a brace of majors in the last term; the second a classy running goal from a tight angle after receiving a Scott Clarke handball.
The Lions finished with five goals to NT’s one, to stretch the margin to the eventual 60 points and seal the flag.
