History of the Brisbane Lions

The Brisbane Lions are an Australian rules football club, founded in 1996 with the merger of Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears.

Pre-merger[]

In 1996, the ten-year-old Brisbane Bears had enjoyed their best season to date, losing a preliminary final to the eventual premiers, North Melbourne. However, the club was on extremely shaky financial ground and did not have many opportunities to generate revenue.

In contrast, the Fitzroy Lions, a foundation club of the VFL/AFL, had been among the bottom teams of the league for the better part of the last four decades. They had finished in last place for two successive seasons, although they contained a number of promising young players. The club was in serious trouble off the field as well. It had not had a permanent home since 1966 and had been on the verge of folding as early as 1986.

By the start of the 1996 season, Fitzroy was almost at the end of its financial tether. The club's directors agreed in principle to merge with the 1996 premiers, North Melbourne, as the "North-Fitzroy Kangaroos". However, that proposal was rejected 15–1 by the AFL Commission, reportedly out of concern that an all-Victorian merge would be too powerful. Instead, Fitzroy was placed into administration, and its administrator accepted an offer to merge its football operations with Brisbane. The merged team would be based in Brisbane, and Bears coach John Northey would become coach of the merged club. However, it adopted a logo and guernsey based largely on those of Fitzroy.

The Brisbane Lions were officially launched on 1 November 1996, joining the national competition in 1997.

Beginnings: 1997–2000[]

In their first year as a combined club the Lions made the finals, finishing in eighth position after being defeated by the St Kilda Football Club in a qualifying final. The following year, however, they finished in last position, despite boasting a talented playing list. Accordingly, Northey was sacked as coach with eight rounds remaining in the season. During the off-season the club hired Leigh Matthews, who in 1990 had delivered Collingwood its first premiership since 1958.

Matthews, who was voted "Player of the Century" in 2000, played his entire career with Hawthorn and brought many of the Hawthorn disciplines to the Lions. Within a season the Lions rose from the bottom of the ladder to fourth, before losing to the eventual premiers, the Kangaroos, in a preliminary final. The Lions played finals again in 2000, but would bow out in the second week after losing to Carlton by 82 points.

Triple premiership success: 2001–2003[]

As the Brisbane Lions, the club won its first AFL premiership in the 2001 AFL Grand Final, defeating Essendon 15.18 (108) to 12.10 (82).^[1] Lions utility player Shaun Hart won the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground in the Grand Final.^[2]: 521 On the morning after winning the flag, the club took the premiership cup to the Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy, the original home of the Fitzroy Football Club. It was an important way of connecting with Melbourne-based Lions fans, many of whom had previously supported Fitzroy, and of winning over disaffected Fitzroy fans who had not started supporting the Brisbane Lions post-merger by honouring the history of the club. The premiership cup then made its historic first trip to Brisbane, a traditionally rugby league-focused city.

In the same year, Brisbane Lion (and former Bear) midfielder Jason Akermanis won the league's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal.^{[2]: 508 [3]}

In 2002, the Lions won back-to-back premierships when they again defeated Collingwood 9.12 (66) to 10.15 (75) in the 2002 AFL Grand Final in cold and wet conditions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Early in the contest the Lions lost both ruckman Beau McDonald and utility player Martin Pike (who had already had nine possessions in the first quarter) to injury and had to complete the match with a limited bench. Despite not scoring a goal in the first quarter, the undermanned Lions overcame a spirited Collingwood in the closest grand final in 15 years. Controversy surrounded the awarding of the Norm Smith medal for best player in the grand final to Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley. The voting panel cast its votes 20 minutes before the conclusion of the match. However, Lions captain Michael Voss was dominant in the final quarter to lead his team to victory and many speculated that, had voting taken place at the final siren, Voss may have won the award over Buckley.^[4] The voting procedure was changed for subsequent grand finals.

In 2002, Brisbane Lions midfielder Simon Black won the Brownlow Medal for best and fairest player of the 2002 season.^[2]: 508 Accordingly, the Brisbane Lions became the first grand finalist in VFL/AFL history to have three Brownlow Medallists in its line-up, the three being 1996 winner Michael Voss,^[2]: 508 2001 winner Jason Akermanis and 2002 winner Simon Black.

In 2002 former Brisbane lawyer Michael Bowers became chief executive officer as part of a move to turn around the club's problematic finances.^[2]: 51

With a number of players under an injury cloud – and having lost to Collingwood in a qualifying final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground three weeks previously – the Lions went into the game as underdogs. However, they sealed their place in history as an AFL dynasty by thrashing the Magpies in cool but sunny conditions. At one stage in the final quarter the Lions led by almost 80 points before relaxing when the match was well and truly won, allowing Collingwood to score the last four goals. The final score of 20.14 (134) to 12.12 (84)^[2]: 860 saw the club become only the fourth in VFL/AFL history to win three consecutive premierships and the first since the creation of the AFL. Simon Black claimed the Norm Smith Medal with a dominant 39 possession match, the most possessions ever gathered by a player in a grand final.^[5]

The 2004 season saw Brisbane remain in the top portion of the ladder for most of the season. In round 22, they set the VFL/AFL record for having the most experienced team in history. The 22-man Brisbane Lions squad had collectively played 3,740 senior career games,^[6] and had collectively scored 3,399 senior career goals. Only four of the 22 players had not played over 100 AFL games;Jonathan Brown (90 games), Robert Copeland (74 games), Dylan McLaren (26 games) and Richard Hadley (24 games).^[7]

Reaching the finals in second position, Brisbane controversially had to travel to Melbourne to play against Geelong in the preliminary final, due to a contract between the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the Australian Football League (AFL) guaranteeing one preliminary final would be played each year at the MCG.^[8] Port Adelaide had finished on top of the ladder and hosted the other preliminary final in Adelaide. Despite this setback, Brisbane beat Geelong and reached the AFL Grand Final for the fourth consecutive year. Their opponents, Port Adelaide, playing in their first ever grand final, were too good on the day and recorded a 40-point win.^[9]

Rebuild of the Lions' second generation: 2005–2008[]

The Lions opened the 2005 AFL season with a 23-point win over St Kilda, but the game was overshadowed by an incident involving the Saints' captain Nick Riewoldt and Brisbane defenders Mal Michael and Chris Scott. Riewoldt injured his shoulder attempting a mark, but after he stayed on the field and refused medical attention, Michael and Scott both bumped into him. Riewoldt then left the ground, and was alter diagnosed with a broken collarbone.^[10] The Brisbane players were later cleared of any wrongdoing,^[11] although making unnecessary contact to an injured player would become illegal in the years to come.^[12]

The team fell away badly towards the end, losing many games by very large margins. This culminated in a record 139-point defeat by St Kilda in the final round.^[13] They finished a disappointing eleventh – out of the Finals for only the second time in the club's history. When able to field its strongest line-up, the Lions produced some strong performance reminiscent of its triple Premiership days. However, injuries to Justin Leppitsch, Jonathan Brown, Nigel Lappin, and the retirements of Premiership players such as Marcus Ashcroft, Alastair Lynch, Martin Pike, Shaun Hart and Craig McRae had taken its toll and the club played more first year players than any other side in the competition.

The Lions began the 2006 season optimistically, but injuries again plagued the club, whose players recorded an AFL record total of 200 matches lost to injury for the season.

Justin Leppitsch was forced to retire through injury and with season ending injuries to prominent players Nigel Lappin, Chris Scott, Ashley McGrath, Richard Hadley, Anthony Corrie and key ruckman Jamie Charman. Coach Leigh Matthews was forced to debut an unprecedented number of youngsters and rookies and due to this, the club experienced inconsistent results. While many of the new youngsters displayed great promise, and continued to attack the ball and tackle opponents in typical Brisbane Lions spirit, it became evident during the final few matches that the young Lions were clearly into rebuilding mode. With AFL Rising Star nominations to Michael Rischitelli, Cheynee Stiller and Matthew Moody, and the emergence of rookie Jason Roe among others, the future looks promising, but the realists also know that the rebuilding phase will take a few years.

Despite the young team losing more home games than ever before, and reducing the Gabba's status as a fortress that intimidated opposition teams, the Lions still produced average crowds the equal of the NRL Premiership team Brisbane Broncos.

Justin Leppitsch and Brad Scott announced their retirements during the season. A controversial and high-profile feud between the club and Jason Akermanis divided supporters of the club and received massive publicity, resulting in Akermanis being stood down for the last seven matches of the season by his senior playing peer group, who felt that his loyalty to the club and playing group was compromised.

After the 2006 home and away season it was revealed that major sponsor AAPT would not be renewing their sponsorship. It was announced shortly after that Vodafone had signed a sponsorship deal with the club worth A$5.4 million over three years.

The Brisbane Lions team of the decade fullback Mal Michael announced his retirement from football on 5 October 2006 due to lack of motivation and desire to pursue other non-football related activities. While at the Lions he was one of the premier fullbacks in the AFL and was somewhat unlucky not to receive an All-Australian honour and was a pivotal figure at the Brisbane Lions, playing a significant role in each of the grand finals contested. In highly controversial circumstances, a contract loophole enabled Michael to sign with the Essendon Bombers and continue his career there.

The captain, Michael Voss, also announced his retirement from football on 6 October 2006 due to the stress placed on his body from years of football and a chronic knee injury. He was the co-captain of the team from 1997 to 2000 with Alastair Lynch before leading the side for the remainder of his career, including the historic three straight premierships. In his final season of football, Voss still played 21 out of a possible 22 games, missing one game through knee soreness which turned out to be the same knee which led to his retirement.

At the completion of the 2006 season Chris Johnson remained as the last ever representative of the Fitzroy Football Club to be playing senior AFL football.

The Brisbane Lions finished runner up in the 2007 NAB Cup and then went on to create history by being the first team in the history of the AFL to have five co-captains. They started the season with a convincing 25-point win over Hawthorn, 9.15.(69) to 6.8.(44) and a massive win, after tributes to former captain, Michael Voss, against the St Kilda Football Club, with a 52-point margin.

On 12 May 2007, the Lions marked Leigh Matthews' 200th game in charge of the team against the Crows.

One week later, on 19 May 2007, against Mal Michael's new team, the Essendon Bombers, the Lions began confidently but eventually succumbed to their biggest loss in season 2007 by a margin of 64 points. The Lions lost to Collingwood by 33 points at the Gabba in Round 9 and drew with Richmond at Docklands Stadium with the final scores 10.13 (73) apiece.

On 7 June 2007 Lions co-captain Simon Black and former Lions captain Michael Voss were charged for an assault that allegedly took place on the eve of the 2006 AFL Grand Final.^[14] Against Jason Akermanis's new side, the Western Bulldogs, in Round 11, the Lions yet again began confidently, kicking the first two goals of the game before being overrun. The Lions failed to score a goal in the second quarter but came back in the last to reduce the margin to 23 points, holding the Bulldogs goalless in the final term. Akermanis kicked two consecutive goals in the first quarter to take the margin out to 15 and 21 points respectively.

At a rainy Kardinia Park two weeks later, the Lions failed to score a goal in the first half and never looked like coming back, going down to their second biggest loss of the season so far. On 30 June 2007, Brisbane faced Port Adelaide and led by seven points at quarter time before being overrun in the second, the Power kicking seven goals to two to lead by 19 points at half-time. At three-quarter time, the Lions were down by 28 points and 40 points a few minutes early into the final term before they fought back to level the scores at 105-all courtesy of a Jonathan Brown goal from a free kick. A minute later a 50-metre penalty gifted Port Adelaide's Brett Ebert a goal and managed to hold on for a seven-point win.

On 22 July 2007 the Lions faced a struggling Carlton Blues side who were on the back of a 62-point thrashing to Sydney the previous week. Brisbane kicked 8.5–0.3 in the last quarter, the final margin being 117 points, Brisbane's biggest ever win over Carlton, bettering their 103-point loss to Carlton in Round 10, 1987. Also, gun forward Jonathan Brown became the first player in Brisbane Lions/Brisbane Bears history to kick 10 goals in a match, beating Brad Hardie (1989) and Daniel Bradshaw (2005) who both kicked nine goals. This resulted in the sacking of the opposition coach after a run of poor results. In Round 17, the Lions celebrated their return to the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a 93-point defeat of Collingwood. Jared Brennan played one of the best games in his 54-game career, scoring seven goals and five behinds.

Rhan Hooper received a three match ban for striking Hawthorn's Rick Ladson, Joel Macdonald and Troy Selwood missed the must-win clash against Sydney. Brisbane started off well with Richard Hadley booting the first goal of the game but poor kicking and too many turnovers saw them trail by 10 points at quarter-time before Jonathan Brown evened the scores at 24-all at half-time. The Lions failed to score a goal in the third time-scoring 0.3 to the Swans' 3.5. However, they jumped straight out of the blocks in the first 3 minutes, with Jonathan Brown putting the Lions in front with his second for the night. But with less than four minutes remaining, Brett Kirk thought he'd won the game for Sydney only for Jonathan Brown to kick a 55-metre goal just before the full-time siren to secure a 9.9 (63) to 8.15 (63) draw.

The Lions failed to make the finals for a third successive year and lost Chris Johnson and Chris Scott to retirement. Youngster Cameron Wood was traded to Collingwood in exchange for Pick 14, which the Lions gave to Melbourne for Travis Johnstone. On the last day of the 2007 trade week, Richard Hadley was traded to Carlton for pick No. 52.

The Lions began the 2008 NAB Cup shakily, losing to Essendon by 27 points. The 2008 home and away campaign started with a game against the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco Oval, in which the Lions lost by 16 points. In their second match at home at the Gabba, the Lions wrestled with an in form Collingwood and eventually triumphed by two points. Jed Adcock scored the winning goal for the Lions. After a 17-point loss to the Sydney Swans the next week (Rivalry Round), the Lions managed a record breaking comeback against Port Adelaide after turning around a 47-point deficit halfway through the third quarter, to come out winners by 20 points by the final siren. The Lions were then defeated by Hawthorn by 12 points followed by a sound victory over Melbourne by 52 points. They suffered another defeat to Geelong by 27 points followed by the Lions' first consecutive wins for the season with wins over Carlton by 33 points and St Kilda by 46 points. This was followed up by wins over North by 31 points and Fremantle by 22 points. The winning streak would eventually be snapped by a defeat from the Bulldogs by 63 points. The team struggled for the rest of the season and missed out on the finals with a 10–12 record, losing 3 games despite having at least 5 more scoring shots in each of those games. Coach Leigh Matthews resigned at the end of the season after 10 seasons and 3 premierships with the club.

Michael Voss era: 2009–2013[]

The Lions made a good start in the 2009 NAB Cup under new senior coach Michael Voss by registering a 9-point win over St Kilda. However this was followed by a series of losses in the pre-season to Essendon, Melbourne and Richmond. The Lions then began the Premiership season well with wins against recent premiers the West Coast Eagles and hoodoo rivals, the Sydney Swans. However, the Lions lost their strong form against Carlton with a loss of 19 points. The Lions went on to make the finals for the first time since 2004; in their elimination final against Carlton at the Gabba they trailed by as much as five goals midway through the final quarter but came back and won by seven points. Their season ended abruptly with a 51-point loss to the Western Bulldogs the following week at the MCG.

The 2009/2010 off-season was dominated by the arrival of Brendan Fevola from Carlton, and the hype was focused on Fevola and Jonathan Brown in the sense that the Lions could capitalise on their strong 2009 season. Indeed, the Lions won their first four matches of the 2010 season to be top of the ladder after four rounds, but they would only win three more games after that to crash to a lowly finish by season's end. One of those wins however, was against eventual premiers Collingwood.

The Lions' 2010/2011 off-season was disrupted by the sacking of Fevola after just one season at the Lions, following repeated off-field indiscretions which included getting drunk in the Brisbane streets during New Year's Eve celebrations. On the field, the Lions won only four games for the year, but only one against any Victorian team, and that was North Melbourne, in Round 9. Despite their worst season since 1998, coach Michael Voss was granted a contract extension after the board recommended that Voss was the best man to take the club forward into the future. Leading into season 2012, only two players from the triple-premiership winning team of 2001–2003 will remain: Simon Black and Jonathan Brown.

Brendan Fevola became the 1st Coleman Medallist to win the medal at a club and be traded to another the following year. He originally came from Carlton

In the first round, Brisbane defeated Melbourne by 45 points at the MCG. It showed promising signs for the future, with good performances from Jared Polec, Niall McKeever, Matthew Leuenberger, Todd Banfield, Rohan Bewick and Rising Star nominee Claye Beams. Older players, such as Simon Black, Daniel Merrett, Ashley McGrath, Jed Adcock and new recruit Ben Hudson also performed well. Only one change was made for round two, Jesse O'Brien was included for Sam Sheldon. The Lions suffered their greatest ever loss at the Gabba in Round 2, losing to Carlton by 91 points, with Black breaking his wrist. The following week, the Lions were beaten at the hands of Fremantle by 29 points, with the Lions recording a record low 20 inside 50's for the match since Champion Data began recording these statistics.^[15] Round 4 then saw the Lions claim their second QClash trophy in QClash3 by a monstrous 65 points, which saw Jonathan Brown boot his 500th goal for his career. Tom Rockliff was awarded the Marcus Ashcroft Medal for his 37 possession performance. The Lions then lost against Geelong in round 5 in Black's 300th game. The Lions didn't kick a goal in the match until the 20-minute mark of the third quarter.

The 2013 season started well for Brisbane, defeating Carlton in the final of the NAB Cup, with Daniel Rich winning the Michael Tuck Medal for best on ground and Aaron Cornelius showing some good form. However, things began to decline from then, with losses to the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide. However, in the 5th QClash match against Gold Coast, the Lions won by two points, with Jonathan Brown winning the Marcus Ashcroft Medal. Injuries were beginning to take a toll, with young players Claye Beams and Jared Polec suffering severe injuries. In Round 13, Brisbane defeated second-placed Geelong, coming from 52 points down late in the third quarter to win by 5 points due to an Ash McGrath goal after the siren in his 200th match.

On 13 August 2013, coach Michael Voss was told that his contract would not be renewed.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Playing under Justin Leppitsch: 2014–2016[]

On 25 August 2013, former premiership player of the Lions, Justin Leppitsch, was confirmed to be the senior coach of the Lions for the next 3 seasons starting in 2014

On 18 October 2013, Brisbane Lions legend Simon Black announced his retirement.

With the retirement of Ashley McGrath in August 2014, no active players remain from any of the club's triple-premiership winning sides.^[20]

Chris Fagan era: 2017–[]

On 4 October 2016, Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan was announced as the Lions' new senior coach for the 2017 season.^[21]

In Fagan's first season in charge, Brisbane won their second wooden spoon and their first since 1998 after winning just five games. They would also win only five games in 2018 but would show promise during the second half of the season, winning three matches in a row and beating finals-bound Hawthorn twice.

Improvement was expected for the Lions in 2019, but they would easily surpass most optimistic expectations. The Lions were brilliant and finished second on the ladder with 16 wins and six losses, reaching the finals for the first time since 2009. Their rise from 15th in 2018 to second (pre-finals) was the equal-largest ever recorded in VFL/AFL history, matching their own rise from 16th in 1998 to 3rd in 1999. However, they were unable to make an impact in the finals and bowed out in straight sets after a 47-point loss to Richmond in the second qualifying final and a heartbreaking three-point defeat to Greater Western Sydney in the second semi-final. In doing so, they became the first second-ranked team to drop out of the finals in the second week since Geelong in 1997.

The following season, the Lions continued to perform well and finished second on the ladder again with a 14–3 win-loss record during the shortened 2020 home-and-away season. With the Grand Final relocated to the Gabba as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lions had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to add a fourth premiership. They defeated reigning premiers Richmond by 15 points in the qualifying final and seemed poised to reach the Grand Final for the first time in 16 years. However, they blew their golden opportunity after suffering a dispiriting 40-point defeat to Geelong in the preliminary final.

References[]