No Lions fan will soon forget the memory of Captain Michael Voss raising his index finger in celebration of a crucial goal midway through the final term of the 2001 Grand Final.

It was arguably the knock-out blow, the moment when the Lions players and support staff really believed they had won the match. And who better to deliver it than the skipper - the man who for 10 years had bled for his team and had grown from being a 17 year-old draftee to possibly the number one player in the game.

The moment came 16 minutes into the final term when ruckman Beau McDonald, contesting a boundary throw-in deep in the Lions forward line, grabbed the ball outright and threaded his way past two opponents.

McDonald off-loaded to Voss, who proceeded to run to the boundary line and dissect the goals. It was a floating, inside-out torpedo that somehow found the mark. Not pretty, but effective.

The famous goal gave the Lions a comfortable 26-point lead with 15 minutes left to play and, as a result, the Essendon players’ heads began to fall. They were done. It was over. The fairytale that had been the Lions’ 2001 campaign was as good as complete