THROUGHOUT his 10 years as Brisbane Lions coach, football followers became used to Leigh Matthews speaking with authority about matters of considerable gravity.

The Courier-Mail sports editor Brian Burke summed it up when he told the crowd at Saturday night’s Club Champion dinner that Matthews’ Monday press conferences were often regarded as “agenda-setters” for the league.

But in accepting his Lions life membership and officially signing off from the club he coached to three premierships, Matthews showed a side of himself perhaps lesser known to the general public – his sense of humour.

For starters, he joked that he was happy to become a life member because it guaranteed him entry to finals games.

And he followed up by lightheartedly comparing Michael Voss’s ascension to the senior coaching role with the succession characteristics of real-life Lions.

“Long before I coached the Brisbane Lions I had a fascination with African wildlife. The Lions’ pride is an interesting group of animals,” Matthews said.

“There is a dominant male who leads the pride for a short amount of time, before another dominant male, who is stronger and fitter, takes over.

“When that happens the new dominant male tends to kill the cubs of the previous dominant male, so those bloodlines don’t grow up and become a threat in future years.

“Lucky we’re not actually Lions or some of you players might be in trouble. Another thing that happens is that when the lead male is replaced, he kind of moves off into the sunset and has to live off his own and probably dies. Again, I’m happy I’m not a Lion.”

On a more serious note, Matthews gave his nod of approval to the new era the Lions are entering, as well as reflecting on some of the traits that had made the club so successful in the last decade.

In Matthews’ 237 games in charge, the Lions won 142 matches en route to six finals appearances, four grand finals and three premierships.

“The club’s mission statement is to be the most successful and respected sporting club in Australia,” Matthews said.

“The success on the field in the football team point of view is a statistical fact. But the respect we’ve engendered is something enormously proud of, something we should all be enormously proud of.

“The number of people who tell me that in their dealings with Brisbane Lions players how courteous and respectful (those players) are – that’s why they were a great team for so long. They have been a magnificent group to coach.

“Going forward, football clubs are always balancing between stability and rejuvenation. The only way you can really have a big rejuvenation, a big change and a big freshen-up is to have a new senior coach.

“That is what this club is going towards, rightly so and hopefully that rejuvenation process will launch another successful era.”

Like his fellow retiree from Saturday night, Nigel Lappin, Matthews took the opportunity to express his gratitude to a wide variety of people associated with the Lions.

He reserved special thanks for his wife Debbie and family, giving an insight into the life of an AFL coach in the process.

“Coaching is much more of an emotional rollercoaster for me than playing ever was,” Matthews said.

“I’ve coached more than 400 games and won maybe 250 of them or so. With the 250 you win, there is a sense of relief and a slight sense of satisfaction, but ultimately players win football games.

“When you lose, you go to a very dark place. Deb and her kids have had to see that very dark place I go to for 24 hours. When you coach you feel the loss much more than I ever did as a player.”