Pearce Hanley will jump to the top of the Brisbane Lions QClash games list with his 10th appearance in the local derby against the Gold Coast SUNS at the Gabba tomorrow afternoon.
Only Tom Rockliff and Jed Adcock have played for the Lions in each of the first ten QClash's, but with Rockliff on the injured list and Adcock having moved on, Hanley will draw level this weekend in the 11th meeting between the two Queensland club's.
Daniel Merrett will play his ninth QClash as the Lions, with a 6-4 record overall and a 4-2 edge at the Gabba, look to atone for a Suns cleansweep last year.
Off-season recruits Tom Bell, Ryan Bastinac, Josh Walker and Josh Schache will make their QClash debut, stretching to 66 the number of players the club has used in matches against the Gold Coast.
Harris Andrews and Tom Cutler, who tasted QClash football for the first time last year, will also be chasing their first QClash win.
Regardless of recent form, history says the QClash is an even contest.
Since Lion turned Sun Jared Brennan had 30 possessions and 14 clearances to pilot Gold Coast to an eight-point win at the Gabba in QClash 1 in 2011 it’s been an unpredictable and often volatile contest.
Indeed, the lead-up to QClash 1 was explosive as the teams traded insults in the media pre-match. Lions Brownlow Medallist Simon Black branded ex-teammates Brennan and Michael Rischitelli 'mercenaries' and took a swipe at the Suns' AFL recruiting concessions.
Lions skipper Jonathan Brown said at the time it was 'personal' because the Lions always stood to lose from the Suns' inclusion in the competition, and Suns coach Guy McKenna said the Suns were "here to clean up the Brisbane Bears' mess".
Since then there has been a special rivalry which, if nothing else, carries much-wanted bragging rights at least until the next time the teams meet.
After the Suns historic first QClash win the Lions won the next five by 62, 65, 11, 2 and 33 points.
Momentum changed in QClash #7 at Metricon Stadium when the Suns started favorites for the first time in Justin Leppitsch’s first local derby as Brisbane coach in Round 3, 2014. The Suns won by 53 points as skipper Gary Ablett won his second Marcus Ashcroft Medal, awarded to the player judged best afield.
Leppitsch had his revenge later that season, winning the return bout by 54 points, but Suns counterpart Rodney Eade enjoyed a 2-0 QClash record in his first season at the Gold Coast helm last year. The Suns won by 64 points and 14 points.
Andrews, 142 days beyond his 18th birthday when he played his third AFL game in QClash 9, is the youngest ever Q-Clash player.
Ben Hudson, who was 33 years 149 days old wearing Lions colors in QClash 4 and now on the club’s coaching staff, is the oldest ever QClash player.
Ablett is the only player to have won the Ashcroft Medal twice, doing so in QClash 4 in 2012 and QClash 7 in 2014. Other Ashcroft Medallists in order have been Brennan, Simon Black, Rockliff, Jonathan Brown, Matthew Leuenberger, Hanley, Charlie Dixon and Tom Lynch.
Brisbane pair Rockliff (47) and Hanley (45) head the list of individual possessions in a QClash after their rampage in a nine-goal Lions win in Gabba in QClash 8 in 2014.
Other 30-possessions gamers in a QClash have been Rockliff (377), Jack Redden (33), Dion Prestia (32), Dayne Zorko (32), Rockliff (32), Simon Black (31), Harley Bennell (31), Dayne Beams (319), Hanley (31), Brennan (30) and Hanley (30).
Ex-Lions veteran Ash Grath, now retired, and ex-Sun Dixon, now at Port Adelaide, share the distinction of kicking most goals in a QClash. McGrath kicked six in a losing effort in QClash 1, and Dixon bagged six with a medal-winning performance in QClash #9 last year.
Players with five-goal hauls in a QClash have been ex-Sun Nathan Krakouer (QC1), Brown (QC5) and Lynch (QC10).
The biggest QClash attendance was 27,170 for QClash 6 at the Gabba in 2013, when the Lions won by 33 points. A fractionally smaller crowd of 27,167 saw the Lions win QClash 8 at the Gabba in 2014.
ALL-TIME QCLASH APPEARANCES
10 – Jed Adcock (BL)
10 – Jarrod Harbrow (GC)
10 – Tom Rockliff (BL)
10 – Matt Shaw (GC)
9 – Pearce Hanley (BL)
9 - Jack Redden (GC)
8 – Harley Bennell (GC)
8 – Sam Day (GC)
8 – Tom Lynch (GC)
8 – Trent McKenzie (GC)
8 – Daniel Merrett (BL)
8 – Michael Rischitelli (GC)
8 – David Swallow (GC)
ALL-TIME Q-CLASH GOALS
13 – Harley Bennell (GC)
12 –Jonathan Brown (BL)
12 – Tom Lynch (GC)
9 – Charlie Dixon (GC)
9 – Tom Rockliff (BL)
8 – Ash McGrath (BL)
8 – Brandon Matera (8)
8 – Daniel Rich (BL)
8 – Dayne Zorko (BL)
ALL-TIME Q-CLASH POSSESSIONS
282 – Tom Rockliff (BL)
247 – Pearce Hanley (BL)
230 – Jack Redden (BL)
183 – Gary Ablett (GC)
178 – Jarrod Harbrow (GC)
175 – Jed Adcock (BL)
164 – David Swallow (GC)
162 – Harley Bennell (GC)
160 – Michael Rischitelli (GC)
157 – Dion Prestia (GC)
151 – Dayne Zorko (BL)
ALL-TIME Q-CLASH BROWNLOW MEDAL VOTES
7 – Tom Rockliff (BL)
6 – Gary Ablett (GC)
6 – Simon Black (BL)
5 – Matthew Leuenberger (B)
5 – Pearce Hanley (BL)
4 – Jared Brennan (GC)
3 – Charlie Dixon (GC)
3 – Aaron Hall (GC)
3 – Daniel Rich (BL)
2 – Harley Bennell (GC)
2 – Jonathan Brown (BL)
2 – Ben Hudson (BL)
2 – Tom Lynch (GC)
2 – Matt Maguire (BL)
2 – Zac Smith (GC)
2 – Dayne Zorko (BL)
1 – Nathan Bock (GC)
1 – Ash McGrath (BL)
1 – Steven May (GC)
1 – Adam Saad (GC)
HIGHEST SCORES
18.16 (124) – Gold Coast (QClash 1, Gabba)
18.15 (123) – Brisbane (QClash 2, Gabba)
LOWEST SCORES
6.10 (46) – Gold Coast (QClash 4, Carrara)
5.18 (48) – Gold Coast (QClash 3, Gabba)
7.12 (54) – Brisbane (QClash 9, Carrara)
