With both Jonathan Brown and Simon Black in the twilight of their AFL careers, the question has often been raised as to how the Brisbane Lions will cope once the pair ultimately decide to hang up the boots.

Even at 31 and 34 years respectively, Brown and Black are probably still among the most valuable members of the Lions’ side.

But with both players sidelined for last Saturday’s match against Melbourne, the next generation of Lions showed they were capable of leading the Club into the future.

In fact, the Lions’ 19-point win over the Demons in Darwin was the Club’s first without both Brown and Black in more than eight years.

Not since Round 1 of 2005 had the Lions tasted victory in the absence of their two future Hall of Famers.

On that occasion, Michael Voss led the team to a 23-point win over St Kilda on Easter Thursday at the Gabba, and was more than ably assisted by senior premiership teammates Luke Power, Daniel Bradshaw, Nigel Lappin, Chris Scott, Chris Johnson, Justin Leppitsch, and Jason Akermanis to name a few.

Last Saturday night was a vastly different scenario, with the bulk of the responsibility resting on the shoulders of a much younger Lions outfit, which featured 10 players with less than 50 AFL games.

Senior Coach Michael Voss said the performance suggested that his side was becoming less reliant on Brown and Black.

“Blacky hasn’t been there for a few weeks in a row now, and they’re getting better and better as a group,” Voss said during his post-match media conference.

“As a midfield group we’ve talked about our depth, and it’s important that we continue to develop these guys – like Lester, Green, Rockliff, Redden, Rich and Leuenberger really driving our midfield.

“It’s important for the future of our Club that they’re playing games together.

“We’ve also talked about spreading the workload (up forward) and having (more) goal-kickers…so we don’t have to rely on one individual (like Brown) kicking 50-60 goals to get the wins.”

The following table outlines how rare Lions wins have been in the absence of Brown and Black.

The Lions without Simon Black and Jonathan Brown