The Brisbane Lions is a professional
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
club based in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, that plays in the
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL).
The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL club the
Fitzroy Lions
The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...
, and the 1987 Queensland based expansion club the
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...
, with the colours of maroon, blue, and gold being drawn from both parent clubs.
The Lions are one of the most successful AFL club of the 2000s, appearing in four consecutive
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
s from
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
to
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
and winning three premierships (
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
,
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
). They play home matches at the
Gabba, which was also the site of their offices and training facilities until moving these to
Springfield Central Stadium
Springfield Central Stadium (also known by naming rights sponsorship as Brighton Homes Arena and colloquially as The Reserve) is an Australian rules football venue located in the Ipswich, Queensland suburb of Springfield, approximately 30 k ...
in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
in 2022.
The Lions also field teams in two other competitions. They were a foundation team in the
AFL Women's
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...
competition in 2017 and have featured in four grand finals in that time, winning the premiership in
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
and finishing runners-up on the other occasions. They have also fielded a reserve men's team in several leagues over the years, and since 2021 the reserves team has competed in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
.
History
Pre-Merger
![NSWToCBunton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/NSWToCBunton.jpg)
The history of the Brisbane Lions traces back to the formation of the Melbourne-based
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the Vi ...
on 26 September 1883 at The Brunswick Hotel. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) made changes to their rules, allowing Fitzroy to join as the seventh club in 1884, playing in the maroon and blue colours of the local Normanby Junior Football Club.
They quickly became one of the most successful clubs, consistently in the top four, and drawing large crowds to their home at the Brunswick Street Oval in Edinburgh Gardens. This success was capped off by Fitzroy winning the VFA premiership in 1895.
Fitzroy would then go onto be one of the eight break away clubs who formed the Victorian Football League in 1897.
They would continue their VFA form and be a powerhouse in the early days of the new VFL, winning a total of eight premierships, of which seven (1898, 1899, 1904, 1905, 1913, 1916 and 1922) were won whilst they were nicknamed the Maroons and one (1944) as the Gorillas.
The club also boasted 6 Brownlow Medal winners who were
Haydn Bunton Sr.
Haydn William Bunton (5 July 1911 – 5 September 1955) was an Australian rules footballer who represented in the Victorian Football League (VFL), in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), and in the South Australian National Football Le ...
,
Wilfred Smallhorn Wilfred may refer to:
* Wilfred (given name), a given name and list of people (and fictional characters) with the name
* Wilfred, Indiana, an unincorporated community in the United States
* ''Wilfred'' (Australian TV series), a comedy series
* ' ...
,
Dinny Ryan,
Allan Ruthven
Allan Gordon Ruthven (17 April 1922 – 14 March 2003) was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League. He played his entire 222 game career with Fitzroy. In 1950, Ruthven won the prestigious Brownlow medal.
Playing ...
,
Kevin Murray, and
Bernie Quinlan
Bernard Francis Quinlan (born 21 July 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
One of a handful of players to have won a Brownlow ...
.
The club to changed its nickname to the Lions in 1957, but when Fitzroy was evicted from its home ground of Brunswick St Oval in 1965, this began a sustained period of poor on-field performance and financial losses. Despite a revival in the '80s, when the Lions made the finals four times under the coaching of
Robert Walls
Robert Walls (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 games ...
and
David Parkin
David Alex Parkin, OAM (born 12 September 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian Na ...
, and the playing group of 1981 Brownlow Medallist
Bernie Quinlan
Bernard Francis Quinlan (born 21 July 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
One of a handful of players to have won a Brownlow ...
,
Ron Alexander
Ronald James Alexander (born 10 December 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the East Perth Football Club and East Fremantle Football Club in the ...
,
Garry Wilson
Garry J. "Flea" Wilson (born 17 July 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Background
Wilson, during his playing days, was described by ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footba ...
,
Gary Pert
Gary Pert (born 28 May 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Tall, well-built and strong in the air, Pert played over 200 league games, despite suffering two serious knee in ...
and
Paul Roos, the club's financial situation was perilous.
![Fitzroy passant lion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Fitzroy_passant_lion.jpg)
The VFL's plans to
move or merge struggling Fitzroy to Brisbane pre-dated the Brisbane Bears, and negotiations between the league and the club began in 1986 with the playing group voting for a move to Brisbane. However, Fitzroy resisted the move despite significant incentives and in response, the VFL made the decision to cut any further financial assistance to the club, which contributed to its ultimate demise. By the start of the 1996 season, they were almost at the end of their financial tether. With no home ground, back to back wooden spoons, and their future under a cloud, Fitzroy began to consider options for survival.
The Brisbane Bears were born in 1987 and initially played home matches at
Carrara Stadium
Carrara Stadium (known commercially as Metricon Stadium) is a stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara.
The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of the ...
on the Gold Coast. In its early days, the club was uncompetitive on the field and struggled to shake the derisive tags which included "The Cararra Koalas" (in reference to the Gold Coast home and the somewhat tame marsupial) and "The Bad News Bears".
After the collapse of the business empire belonging to Bears deputy chairman
Christopher Skase
Christopher Charles Skase (18 September 19485 August 2001) was an Australian businessman who later became one of his country's most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca, Spain.
Early life
Sk ...
and the resignation of chairman
Paul Cronin
Paul Cronin (8 July 1938 – 13 September 2019) was an Australian actor who played roles in the Australian television series ''Matlock Police'' and ''The Sullivans''. He won the Silver Logie five times, including three years consecutively fro ...
, the club was taken over by the AFL and re-sold to Gold Coast hospitality businessman Reuben Pelerman.
Off-field, Pelerman was losing millions of dollars annually on the club and at one point in 1991 told Bears coach Robert Walls that he was closing it down. The Bears would go onto finish last in 1990 and 1991.
To survive, The Bears experimented with playing matches at the Gabba in Brisbane in 1991, moving all home matches to the venue ahead of the 1993 season.
As part of the club's move to the Gabba, Pelerman agreed to release the Bears from private ownership and revert to a traditional club structure in which the club's members were able to elect the board.
Membership and attendances instantly tripled now that the club was finally playing in their home city of Brisbane.
The Bears only qualified for the finals series in 1995 and 1996, and the closest the club came to a
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
was in 1996, its last year in the competition, when it lost to
North Melbourne
North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...
by 38 points in the preliminary final.
On extremely shaky financial ground, the Bears struggled to generate many revenue opportunities in their short and turbulent ten-year existence. Despite improving it's on field fortunes, and drafting exciting young players on such as
Michael Voss
Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Voss was a triple premiersh ...
,
Justin Leppitsch
Justin Leppitsch (born 1 October 1975) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and the former coach of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Leppitsch was raised in Berwick, Victoria. In 1992, he ...
,
Jason Akermanis
Jason Dean Akermanis (born 24 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a Brownlow Medallist and triple premiership player who played for the Brisbane Bea ...
,
Darryl White
Darryl White (born 12 June 1973) is an Australian rules footballer whose career with the Brisbane Bears and Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL) lasted from 1992 to 2005.
An Indigenous Australian, in 2005 he was named at fullback in t ...
, and
Nigel Lappin
Nigel Lappin (born 21 June 1976) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. Lappin is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Geelong Football Club.
Playing career
Lappin was born in the locally based regional hospital at ...
, the clubs existence was still at threat due to severe financial problems, and since 1990 The Bears had been actively exploring merger options with Fitzroy.
Fitzroy's directors had 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 an identity, logo, song, and guernsey based on those of Fitzroy, would take eight Fitzroy players in the draft, three Fitzroy representatives would serve on the board (including former Fitzroy champion
Laurie Serafini
Lorenzo 'Laurie' Serafini (born 1 November 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy Football Club, Fitzroy in the Australian Football League, VFL during the late 1970s and mid 1980s, having been recruited from Assu ...
), and the Lions would keep an office in Melbourne.
The eight Fitzroy players who would join the Brisbane Lions were
Brad Boyd
Brad Boyd (born 10 August 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League during the 1990s.
Boyd started his AFL career in 1992 with Fitzroy and played mainly as a r ...
,
Chris Johnson,
Jarrod Molloy
Jarrod Molloy (born 12 May 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.
A key position player, Molloy was trialled in both attack and defence as his career progressed, with most success enjoyed near the go ...
,
John Barker,
Nick Carter,
Simon Hawking
Simon Hawking (born 5 March 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy Football Club, Fitzroy in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Hawking was a key position player and made seven appearances for Fitzroy in 1993, ...
,
Scott Bamford
Scott Bamford (born 23 June 1974) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy, Brisbane, and Geelong in the Australian Football League and for North Adelaide (roosters) in the South Australian National Football League.
...
and
Shane Clayton
Shane Clayton (born 24 October 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy Football Club, the Brisbane Lions and the North Melbourne Football Club, Kangaroos in the Australian Football League (AFL), including their vict ...
.
The Brisbane Lions were officially launched on 1 November 1996, joining the national competition in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
.
Beginnings: 1997–2000
In their debut year as a combined club, the Lions narrowly made the finals, finishing in eighth position. They ended up with the same win–loss record as fellow 1997 newcomers
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
, who missed out due to having an inferior percentage.
Their first two games were against the eventual grand finalists of that year,
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and
St Kilda. They went down to Adelaide by 36 points before recording an emphatic 97-point thrashing of St Kilda in round 2. The Lions met St Kilda again in a cut-throat away qualifying final, going down by 46 points after leading the Saints at half-time. The Brisbane Lions in 1997 remain the only new team in VFL/AFL history to have made the finals in their first season.
Despite a talented playing list, the disruption of the merger and injuries to key players Michael Voss and Brad Boyd took their toll. The Lions would go onto finish in last position at the end of the
1998 season. Accordingly, Northey was sacked as coach with eight rounds remaining in the season. During the off-season, the club hired
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the .
Squat, short-legged and barrel-chested, Matthews earned the ic ...
, who in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
had delivered
Collingwood its first premiership since
1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
.
Matthews, who was voted "Player of the Century" in 2000, played his entire career with
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
and brought many of the Hawthorn disciplines to the Lions. Importantly, he forced the Lions to embrace and acknowledge their Fitzroy heritage with murals and records being erected at the Gabba, and past players names being placed on lockers. Within a year, the Lions rose from the bottom of the ladder to fourth. The
1999 season included a Round 20 Gabba match where the Lions led
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
by 113 points at half-time after having kicked 21 goals. Their half-time score of 21.5 (131) still remains the highest half-time score in VFL/AFL history. Brisbane would win their first finals as a merged entity against
Carlton
Carlton may refer to:
People
* Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname
* Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy
* Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
and the
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
before losing to the eventual premiers, the
Kangaroos
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
, in a 1999 preliminary final. The Lions played finals again in 2000 but bowed out in the second week after losing an away game to Carlton by 82 points.
In this time period the club drafted and recruited key players who would go onto be pillars of the Lions triple premiership years. Victorian
Luke Power
Luke Power (born 8 January 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). A member of the Brisbane Lions's 2001, 2002, and 2003 premiers ...
, Fitzroy father-son selection
Jonathan Brown, and exciting WA product
Simon Black
Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...
would come via the draft, and
Brad Scott,
Mal Michael
Malcolm Robert Michael (born 24 June 1977) is a Papua New Guinean-born former Australian rules footballer. He is notable for his successful professional career in the Australian Football League. In a career spanning 238 games and three clubs ...
, and ex-Fitzroy B&F winner
Martin Pike would be recruited from Hawthorn, Collingwood, and North Melbourne respectively.
Triple premiership success: 2001–2004
![MichaelVoss](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/MichaelVoss.jpg)
The Lions began 2001 by making the final of the
Ansett Australia Cup
Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into admini ...
, their first pre-season grand final. They went down by 85 points away to Port Adelaide, who they had also been scheduled to play in Round 1 at the same venue. After an inconsistent start to their
2002 season, the Lions took on the reigning premiers Essendon in Round 10. Brisbane finished as 28-point victors, and head coach Leigh Matthews famously used a ''
Predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
'' quote, "if it bleeds, we can kill it", to inspire his team for the game. The Lions would then win 16 games straight, finishing the year undefeated and booking their place in the
2001 AFL Grand Final
The 2001 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club, Essendon Bombers and the Brisbane Lions, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 2001. It was the 105th annua ...
to play
Essendon Essendon may refer to:
Australia
*Electoral district of Essendon
*Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington
*Essendon, Victoria
**Essendon railway station
**Essendon Airport
*Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League
United King ...
.
Going in as underdogs, Brisbane started the game well, scoring the first goal of the match from a free kick awarded to
Alastair Lynch
Alastair Graeme Lynch (born 19 June 1968) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is best known as a three-time premiership full-forward for the Brisbane Lions.
The Tasmanian ...
for holding against
Dustin Fletcher
Dustin Fletcher (born 7 May 1975) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire 23-season career for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is widely acknowledged as one of the fines ...
. Essendon fought back late in the first quarter and then took control of the game in the second term. The Lions' poor kicking for goal almost put them out of the game in the second quarter as Essendon blew their lead out to 20 points late in the term.
However, The Lions managed to overrun Essendon in the third term, kicking six goals to one and turning a 14-point deficit into a 16-point lead. Brisbane's pace in the midfield and the tiring legs of most of the Essendon players played a pivotal role in them taking full control of the game in the second half.
The Lions won their first premiership as a merged club comfortably, with a final score of 15.18 (108) to 12.10 (82).
The win was topped off with Lions utility player
Shaun Hart Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne.
Notable persons with the given name include:
People
*Shaun (musician) (born 1990), South Korean musician
*Shaun (YouTuber), British vi ...
winning the
Norm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football ...
after being judged best on ground in the
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
.
In 2002, the Lions won a club-record 17 games, spending most of the season firmly entrenched in the top two with Port Adelaide. They narrowly missed out on the minor premiership following a final round defeat to the Power in Adelaide.
In the finals, the Lions claimed easy home victories over the two Adelaide-based teams on their way to a second consecutive Grand Final. They faced Collingwood, who had surprised many that year after having missed the finals the previous seven seasons. Brisbane ended up defeating the Magpies 9.12 (66) to 10.15 (75) in cold and wet conditions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Early in the contest, the Lions lost both ruckman
Beau McDonald
Beau McDonald (born 3 November 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.
He was recruited as the number 73 draft pick in the 1997 AFL Draft from Swan Districts. He made his debut for the Brisbane Lion ...
and utility player
Martin Pike to injury and had to complete the match with a limited bench.
In 2003, the Lions became the first team in the national era to win three consecutive premierships. 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)
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
Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...
claimed the Norm Smith Medal with a dominant 39-possession match, the most possessions ever gathered by a player in a grand final; the record was equalled by
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
's
Christian Petracca
Christian Petracca ( ; born 4 January 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, tall and weighing , Petracca has the ability to play dual- ...
18 years later in the
2021 Grand Final.
![Fitzroy Cricket Ground Grandstand](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Fitzroy_Cricket_Ground_Grandstand.jpg)
During their premiership years, the club took the premiership cups to
Brunswick Street Oval
The WT Peterson Community Oval, best known as the Brunswick Street Oval and also as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground, is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, Victoria.
History Australian Rule ...
, Fitzroy, each morning after the grand final. Honouring the club's history at their traditional home ground was not only an important way of connecting with Melbourne-based former Fitzroy fans who'd supported the Brisbane Lions from the beginning but was a key step in winning over the disaffected Fitzroy fans who had not started supporting the Brisbane Lions post-merger.
The
2004 season saw Brisbane remain in the top portion of the ladder for most of the season. Reaching the finals in second position, Brisbane controversially had to travel to Melbourne to play against
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
in the preliminary final due to a contract between the
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...
(MCG) and the
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL) that required one preliminary final to be played each year at the MCG. Port Adelaide had finished on top of the ladder and hosted the other preliminary final in Adelaide. Former player
Jason Akermanis
Jason Dean Akermanis (born 24 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a Brownlow Medallist and triple premiership player who played for the Brisbane Bea ...
has since claimed that coach Leigh Matthews was furious over the preliminary final location decision. Despite this setback, Brisbane beat Geelong and reached the
grand final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
for the fourth consecutive year. Their opponents, Port Adelaide, playing in their first grand final, were too good on the day and recorded a 40-point win in what was the first-ever
all-non-Victorian grand final. The grand final is partly remembered for a wild punch-up between Port Adelaide's
Darryl Wakelin
Darryl Wakelin (born 11 August 1974) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda and Port Adelaide in the Australian Football League as a defender.
AFL career
Adelaide
Wakelin was selected by Adelaide with the 11th pic ...
and Alastair Lynch, who was playing in his last-ever game and therefore immune from suspension.
Rebuild & Michael Voss: 2005–2013
![Traininghard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Traininghard.jpg)
The Lions endured a slow start to the
2005 season before having a form reversal towards the end of the year, which included ten-goal thrashings of top-four contenders Geelong and Melbourne. Going into Round 20, they were half a game clear inside the top eight and had one of the strongest percentages in the league. However, they would lose their final three games and miss the finals, with their season culminating in a record-breaking 139-point loss to St Kilda at the
Telstra Dome
Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was ...
. It remains the club's heaviest defeat, in addition to being the largest victory in the over-100-year history of St Kilda. Some believed that the St Kilda game, rather than the 2004 Grand Final, had signaled the end of Brisbane's triple premiership dynasty.
The Lions began the
2006 season optimistically, but injuries plagued the club as they again missed the finals, with Brisbane's players recording an AFL record total of 200 matches lost to injury for the season.
The Brisbane Lions 2007 season started with them finishing runner up to Carlton in the 2007
NAB Cup
In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules footba ...
Grand Final. The Lions would fail to make the finals for a third successive year, again showing promising glimpses at stages, with a shock away win against reigning premiers the
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...
, and a 93-point hiding of finalists Collingwood at the MCG. They made history in 2007 by becoming the first club in the history of the AFL to have five co-captains.
The team struggled during the 2008 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. Following the season, Coach
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the .
Squat, short-legged and barrel-chested, Matthews earned the ic ...
resigned after 10 seasons and 3 premierships with the club. The Lions appointed former player and Captain
Michael Voss
Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Voss was a triple premiersh ...
as the coach ahead of 2009.
After only winning 2 games from the first 5 played in 2009, the club won 9 of the next 12 to sit in 6th on the Ladder, where they would finish the season. They would also record a strong victory over eventual premiers
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
during this timeframe by 43 points. The club beat Carlton in their Elimination Final, coming from 30 points behind in the final quarter to win by 7 points, before losing to the
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
in a Semi Final.
The 2009/2010 off-season was dominated by the arrival of
Brendan Fevola
Brendan Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the Carlton and Brisbane Lions football clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Fevola is regarded as one of the most effective ...
from Carlton, with a belief in the club that Fevola could help them capitalise and improve upon 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 finish 13th by the end of the season.
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 and finished 15th overall. The 2011 season saw the debut of another Queensland-based team, the
Gold Coast Suns
The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara.
The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...
. The Suns, who were coming off a 139-point loss to Essendon the previous week, upset the Lions by 8 points in their first encounter. Despite their worst season since 1998, coach
Michael Voss
Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Voss was a triple premiersh ...
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 remained:
Simon Black
Simon Black (born 3 April 1979) is a former Australian rules football player and current assistant coach, who played his whole career with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Black was a midfielder with a reputation fo ...
and
Jonathan Brown.
The
2013 season started well for Brisbane, defeating
Carlton
Carlton may refer to:
People
* Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname
* Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy
* Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
in the final of the
NAB Cup
In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules footba ...
, with
Daniel Rich
Daniel Rich (born 7 June 1990) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited with the seventh overall selection in the 2008 AFL draft, 2008 national draft. ...
winning the
Michael Tuck Medal
The Michael Tuck Medal was awarded to the best-and-fairest player in the AFL Pre-season Cup Final. The award was presented annually between 1992 and 2013; since 2014, the award has not been presented due to the preseason being structured without a ...
for best on ground. However, the club began its 2013 season with back-to-back losses to the
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. Injuries took a toll on the team, with young players
Claye Beams
Clayton Beams (born 1 September 1991), is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Claye was born on (the younger brother of former Brisbane Lions captain and f ...
and
Jared Polec
Jared Polec (born 12 October 1992) is an Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club, Port Adelaide and Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
He was selected with the Brisbane Lions' first sel ...
suffering severe injuries. In Round 13, Brisbane defeated second-placed
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
, coming from 52 points down late in the third quarter to win by 5 points due to an
Ash McGrath
Ashley Vernon McGrath (born 20 May 1983) is a retired indigenous Australian, indigenous Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League.
Selected in the 2000 AFL Draft with the thirteenth pick ov ...
goal after the siren
In Australian rules football, if a player takes a mark or is awarded a free kick before the siren sounds to end a quarter, and the siren sounds before the player takes a set shot, the player is allowed to take the kick after the siren. Often, th ...
in his 200th match, in what would become known as the
Miracle on Grass.
On 13 August 2013, coach Michael Voss was told that his contract would not be renewed.
On 18 October 2013, Brisbane Lions
Hall of Famer
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
Simon Black announced his retirement.
Playing under Justin Leppitsch: 2014–2016
On 25 August 2013, a former premiership player for the Lions,
Justin Leppitsch
Justin Leppitsch (born 1 October 1975) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and the former coach of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Leppitsch was raised in Berwick, Victoria. In 1992, he ...
, was confirmed to be the senior coach of the Lions for the next three seasons.
During Round 13, 2014 Lions captain Jonathan Brown was the victim of a facial injury in a clash between the Lions and the Greater Western Sydney Giants. He collided with Tomas Bugg's knee and was taken off the ground. He suffered a concussion and subsequently retired from football. His retirement, alongside the retirement of
Ash McGrath
Ashley Vernon McGrath (born 20 May 1983) is a retired indigenous Australian, indigenous Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League.
Selected in the 2000 AFL Draft with the thirteenth pick ov ...
, meant there were no players from the triple-premiership era remaining at the club.
On 29 August 2016, Leppitsch was sacked as coach of the Lions after multiple disappointing seasons.
Chris Fagan era: 2017–present
On 4 October 2016, Hawthorn football manager
Chris Fagan was announced as Brisbane's senior coach from the 2017 season onwards.
The Lions claimed the 2017
wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to:
* Wooden spoon, implement
* Wooden spoon (award)
** Australian rugby league wooden spooners
** County Championship Wooden Spoons
** List of Australian Football League wooden spoons
** MLS Wooden Spoon
* Wooden Spoon Soci ...
, despite winning 5 games for the season, 2 more than the previous season. Their percentage of 74.3 was the worst in the league, behind
Fremantle
Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...
with a percentage of 74.4. The 2018 season was very similar, recording 5 wins to finish in 15th place.
The Lions had a magnificent 2019 season, making the finals for the first time since 2009 and finishing second on the AFL ladder with 16 wins, behind minor premiers Geelong on percentage. However, Brisbane were bundled out of the finals in straight sets at the Gabba, losing to eventual premiers Richmond by 47 points in their qualifying final and then to eventual runners-up Greater Western Sydney by three points in their semi-final due to a late Brent Daniels goal. The Lions became the first team since Geelong in 1997 to finish second on the ladder and not progress to a preliminary final.
![Brisbane Lions flag flying over Fitzroy town hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Brisbane_Lions_flag_flying_over_Fitzroy_town_hall.jpg)
Brisbane repeated their form displayed in 2019 the following year, once again finishing in second position on percentage at the conclusion of the home-and-away season. They won 14 games in a shortened 17-game season. During their qualifying final, they defeated Richmond for the first time since 2009 and qualified for a preliminary final berth, but went on to be beaten by a more experienced Geelong side in that match.
After an inconsistent start to the
2021 season the Lions hit form, winning seven straight games to sit in the top four for most of the year. However, losses to Melbourne, Richmond, Hawthorn and St Kilda meant the Lions sat in fifth as of the final round.
With the double chance on the line, the Lions regained fourth spot in the dying seconds of their final home-and-away game against West Coast. A behind kicked by
Lincoln McCarthy
Lincoln McCarthy (born 22 October 1993) is a professional Australian rules football player for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
McCarthy, from Bordertown, South Australia, was recruited from Glenelg to Geelong in th ...
put them ahead of the fourth-placed Bulldogs by a single point of ladder percentage, and a goal after the siren from
Charlie Cameron then sealed the result for the Lions, who finished in the top four for the third year running under Chris Fagan. However, the Lions bowed out in straight sets for the second time in three years after suffering losses to eventual premiers Melbourne and eventual runners-up Western Bulldogs in the finals, with the latter winning by a single point due to a contentious free kick paid to the Bulldogs in the final seconds of the game.
Brisbane reached the finals once again in 2022, but this time missed the top four. With a win-loss record of fifteen wins and seven losses, the Lions finished sixth and hosted seventh-placed Richmond at The Gabba in an Elimination Final. After a close game which had 17 lead changes, the Lions prevailed, defeating the Tigers by a margin of two points in a 106–104 victory thanks to a late
Joe Daniher
Joe Daniher (born 4 March 1994) is an Australian rules footballer with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Essendon Football Club from 2013 to 2020, having been recruited to the club under the ...
goal. The Lions then played the
Melbourne Demons
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...
in the Semi-Final, and upset the reigning premiers against all odds, bundling them out in straight sets with a score of 92–79 to progress to their second Preliminary Final under Fagan, taking on Geelong once again in a rematch of the 2020 Preliminary Final.
Unfortunately for Brisbane, their impressive finals run came to an end against the Cats, suffering a 71-point defeat in the First Preliminary Final that ended their
2022 season.
Membership base & Sponsorship
![Kevin murray jonothan brown mural](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Kevin_murray_jonothan_brown_mural.jpg)
Crowds and memberships for the Brisbane Lions grew dramatically during the four seasons in which they made the AFL Grand Final.
The club still maintains healthy Victorian support due to their Fitzroy origins, and The Royal Derby Hotel in Fitzroy is the official social venue for Victorian Lions fans, showing all televised games, and displaying a mural of club greats Kevin Murray and Jonathan Brown on its Alexandra Parade side.
To add to this presence in Melbourne, the Lions Historical Society is based at Etihad stadium, containing exhibits of club history stretching from Fitzroy, to the Bears, and the Brisbane Lions.
A 2000
Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan, formerly known as Roy Morgan Research, is an independent Australian social and political market research and public opinion statistics company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It operates nationally as Roy Morgan and internation ...
AFL survey of household incomes suggested that Brisbane Lions supporters were among the lowest-earning supporters in the league.
Statistics highlighted in bold denote the best known season for Brisbane in that category
Statistics highlighted in ''italic'' denote the worst known season for Brisbane in that category
Non-playing/coaching staff
Sponsorship
Relationship with Fitzroy FC
![Aussie rules wikipedia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Aussie_rules_wikipedia.jpg)
Fitzroy FC Ltd came out of administration in 1998. For a brief time, it experimented in partnerships with other semi-professional and amateur clubs before incorporating the Fitzroy Reds in 2009 to play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association. While its AFL operations are run via the Brisbane Lions, Fitzroy largely resumed its original VFL/AFL identity playing in the VAFA through its continued use of their 1975–1996 VFL/AFL jumper, their club song, and their 1884–1966 home ground at the Brunswick Street Oval.
Fitzroy FC ltd improved its relationship with the Brisbane Lions in the ten years from 1999 to 2009. In that time Brisbane acknowledged the two parent clubs for the merger with the letters BBFFC printed below the back of the neck of the club's guernseys from 2002. Fitzroy's VAFA side played the curtain-raiser at the MCG when the Brisbane Lions met the Collingwood Magpies in the AFL Heritage Round of 2003. Brisbane also now wears a version of Fitzroy's AFL guernsey with red instead of maroon in most matches played in Victoria, consistent with Fitzroy's most recent colours.
Relationships between Fitzroy and Brisbane however were strained in late 2009, when Brisbane announced that it was adopting a new logo for season 2010 and beyond, which Fitzroy Football Club believed contravened Section 7.2 c) of the merger agreement. The new logo, a lion's head facing forward, replaced the former Fitzroy logo of a passant lion with a football. On 22 December 2009, Fitzroy lodged a Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of Victoria, seeking an order that the Brisbane Lions be restrained from using as its logo, the new logo or any other logo other than 'the Fitzroy lion logo'. On 15 July 2010, the two clubs reached a settlement, agreeing that the Fitzroy logo symbolically represents the historic merger between the Bears and Fitzroy and the first 13 years of the Brisbane Lions competing in the AFL, and that Brisbane would use both the old and new logos alongside each other in an official capacity (e.g. on letterheads, marketing, etc.), with the old logo to be phased out altogether after 2014. Brisbane returned to using the old logo on its playing guernseys from 2015, but the new logo will remain for corporate purposes.
Since 2015, The Lions have kept strong ties with the Fitzroy Football Club in the VAFA and the Fitzroy junior football club. A one club approach has been taken from all parties and the Lions sponsor a male and female Fitzroy player each year, conduct coaching workshops for Fitzroy, and frequently invite the Fitzroy juniors to form a guard of honour for Victorian games. With many Fitzroy people having served on the Brisbane Lions board, each iteration of the club in the AFL and in local football keeps the Fitzroy spirit alive.
Club identity
Emblem
In 1997, the club unveiled its new merger emblem, consisting of the golden Fitzroy Lion on a badge of Maroon and Blue. The club used this emblem from 1997 until the end of 2001. In 2002, the club would unveil a new emblem in the shape of a football, emblazoned with the words "Brisbane Lions" and with the Fitzroy Lion located within the o of Lions. This emblem was used until 2010, when the emblem was again changed, this time in favour of a forward-facing Lion head.
Guernseys
Home Guernsey (worn 1997-2009 and since 2015): Predominantly maroon guernsey with a blue yoke featuring a golden
Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to:
People As a given name
*Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name:
**FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855)
** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...
Lion, with a gold collar and cuffs. XL Express is the current sponsor on the front whilst Ned's is the current sponsor on the back. For shorts, maroon home shorts are worn in home games and white away shorts are worn in away games not played in Victoria.
Away Guernsey (worn 2008-2009 and since 2015): Predominantly red guernsey with a blue yoke featuring a golden Fitzroy lion, with a blue collar and cuffs, and based on Fitzroy's final colours in the AFL. Ned's is the current sponsor on the front and XL Express is the current sponsor on the back. White away shorts are worn when this guernsey is used.
Clash Guernsey (worn since 2020): This predominantly white guernsey features a golden Fitzroy lion on a maroon v (the v reminiscent of the
Bears
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the North ...
’ final guernsey), with a maroon collar and cuffs. Ned's is the sponsor on the front and XL Express is the sponsor on the back. The same shorts as the Away Guernsey are worn.
Mascot
The Lion's
Mascot Manor
Mascot Manor refers to a fictional house in which the Australian Football League (AFL) club mascots live. Prior to 2003, each AFL club had mascots; however, in order to appeal to Auskick players, a common theme was decided upon for club mascots. M ...
representative and club mascot was Bernie "Gabba" Vegas until 2016 when Roy the Lion (named Roy after the nickname for Fitzroy fans) replaced him as mascot. In 2021 the club unveiled their Lioness mascot Auroara.
Song
The club's team song, "The Pride of Brisbane Town", is based on the Fitzroy club song, and is sung to the music of "
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...
", the French national anthem.
Lyrics
''We are the pride of Brisbane town,''
''We wear maroon, blue and gold.''
''We will always fight for victory,''
''Like Fitzroy, and Bears of old.''
''All for one, and one for all,''
''We will answer to the call.''
''Go Lions, Brisbane Lions,''
''We'll kick the winning score''
''You'll hear our mighty roar''
Training base
![Brighton Homes Arena Ipswich QLD during 2022 Season 7 AFLW Grand Final](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Brighton_Homes_Arena_Ipswich_QLD_during_2022_Season_7_AFLW_Grand_Final.jpg)
Between 1997 and 2022, the club trained out of the
Gabba during the football season. The club's administrative and indoor training facilities were also located in the stadium. Due to the
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
season in the summer which is during the off-season for the Lions, the club was required to train at alternative locations over the years, this has included the University of Queensland campus, Leyshon Park in
Yeronga
Yeronga is a southern riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Yeronga had a population of 6,535 people.
Geography
The suburb is bounded to the west and north by the Brisbane River and to the south-east by ...
,
Giffin Park
Giffin Park is a sports venue in Coorparoo, Queensland, Coorparoo, a suburb in Brisbane, Australia. It includes an Australian rules football ground.
It was formerly used by the Brisbane Lions as their secondary training venue and is used durin ...
in
Coorparoo
Coorparoo is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 16,282 people.
Geography
Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Stones Corner, ...
,
Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex
Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex is a sports field complex in Burpengary, a suburb of the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia primarily for both Australian rules football and soccer. It was built and opened in 2013 and are managed by C ...
in
Burpengary
Burpengary is a town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Burpengary had a population of 14,022 people.
It is by road from the Brisbane CBD, Brisbane central bu ...
and elsewhere, meaning the club lacked a dedicated and permanent home year-round. In 2020 the club announced that it would move its training and administrative facilities into
Springfield Central Stadium
Springfield Central Stadium (also known by naming rights sponsorship as Brighton Homes Arena and colloquially as The Reserve) is an Australian rules football venue located in the Ipswich, Queensland suburb of Springfield, approximately 30 k ...
(known for ground-sponsorship purposes as Brighton Homes Arena), an 8,000-capacity high-class facility in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
that enables the club to base itself in the single location and play reserve-grade and AFLW matches at the one location.
The Lions moved into the facility in October 2022.
Rivalries
Collingwood
The angst between supporters of
Collingwood and Brisbane had been caused by plenty of history between the two clubs. Fitzroy and Collingwood are neighbouring inner northern Melbourne suburbs with a suburban boundary separating them down the middle of
Smith Street. This meant they shared a fierce local rivalry pre-merger, but the rivalry between the Lions and the Magpies was properly ignited post-merger in late 1999 when Collingwood played their last ever AFL game at their spiritual home ground, Victoria Park. The Lions emerged 42 point victors that day and consigned the Magpies to their second wooden spoon in their VFL/AFL history. The rivalry between the two clubs peaked in the early 2000s, as the clubs played off in two consecutive Grand Finals in 2002 and 2003, with the Lions emerging victors on both occasions.
Gold Coast Suns
The Brisbane Lions have a rivalry with fellow Queensland AFL team the
Gold Coast Suns
The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara.
The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...
. The two teams contest the QClash twice each season. The first QClash was held in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, with the game establishing the highest
pay TV
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
audience ever for an AFL game, with a total of 354,745 viewers watching the game.
The medal for the player adjudged
best on ground
In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
is known as the
Marcus Ashcroft Medal
The Marcus Ashcroft Medal is awarded to the player judged best on ground in the QClash football match played between Brisbane and Gold Coast.
It is named after former footballer Marcus Ashcroft, who played junior football on the Gold Coast for ...
. It is named after former footballer
Marcus Ashcroft
Marcus Ashcroft (born 25 September 1971) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played 318 games for the Brisbane Bears/Lions and is currently on the coaching panel of the Gold Coast Football Club. The Marcus Ashcroft Medal, ...
, who played junior football on the Gold Coast for
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
and 318 VFL/AFL games for the Brisbane Bears/Lions between 1989 and 2003. He later joined Gold Coast's coaching staff and was the first Queenslander to play 300 VFL/AFL games. Lion
Dayne Beams
Dayne Beams (born 12 February 1990) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also previously played for, and captained, the Brisbane Lions duri ...
has won the medal three times, the most by any player.
The trophy awarded to the winner of the game is currently known as the "QClash Trophy". The trophy is a "traditional style" looking silver cup with a wooden base and a plaque. The plaque's inscription reads from left to right, "Brisbane Lions AFC", "QCLASH", "Gold Coast Suns FC".
Port Adelaide
The necessity of a merger between two AFL clubs in 1996 was to enable The
Port Adelaide Football Club
Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...
to enter the AFL in 1997. The result of this merger produced The Brisbane Lions, and fans of parent clubs Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears were disappointed at losing their clubs as standalone entities due to Port's entry into the league. A rivalry quickly developed between the newly merged club and Port.
In their early days, the two clubs could not be separated and had multiple close encounters, with a draw in two of their first three meetings.
In the early 2000s, the rivalry reached its peak as the two clubs would be the most dominant of the era, consistently finishing at the top of the ladder. Between 2001 and 2004, the clubs met each other in the
2001 Ansett Australia Cup Grand Final, a 2001 qualifying final, a 2002 preliminary final and the
2004 Grand Final. Other notable encounters from this period include a round 22 match in 2002 to determine the minor premiership that year,
which Port Adelaide won by a single goal, and a round 17 match in 2003 with 7 lead changes in the final quarter, which Port Adelaide won by a point.
Honours
Club honours
Individual
Team of the Decade
In June 2006, to recognise ten years since the creation of the Brisbane Lions, a Team of the Decade was announced.
Hall of Fame
=Legends
=
=Inductees
=
Club facts
Coaches (men's)
Coaches (women's)
Captains (men's)
Captains (women's)
Match records (men's)
* Biggest winning margin: 141 points – 29.15 (189) vs. Adelaide 6.12 (48), The Gabba, 24 July 2004
* Biggest losing margin: 139 points – 7.5 (47) vs. St Kilda 28.18 (186), Telstra Dome, 27 August 2005
* Highest score: 29.15 (189) vs. Adelaide, The Gabba, 24 July 2004
* Lowest score: 2.5 (17) vs. Richmond, MCG, 14 April 2018
* Highest score conceded: 28.18 (186) vs. St Kilda, Telstra Dome, 27 August 2005
* Lowest score conceded: 3.10 (28) vs. Essendon, Metricon Stadium, 31 July 2020
* Highest aggregate score: 293 points – Brisbane Lions 25.21 (171) vs. Fremantle 19.8 (122), The Gabba, 29 April 2001
* Lowest aggregate score: 76 points – Brisbane Lions 6.6 (42) vs. Collingwood 5.4 (34), The Gabba, 4 September 2020
* Most goals in a match: Jonathan Brown, ten goals vs. Carlton, The Gabba, 22 July 2007
Biggest home crowds
AFL finishing positions (1997–present)
Legend:
Premiers,
Wooden spoon
Players
Current squad
Covid top-up list
For the 2022 season, in the event an AFL club has less than 28 players available due to Covid, each club can select from a list of 20 state league players who can be called up to AFL level.
Brisbane have selected VFL players from
Coburg
Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...
,
Port Melbourne
Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...
and Brisbane Lions' VFL team
Reserves team
The Brisbane Lions have fielded reserves teams in various competitions since 1998. In its inaugural year (1997) the club affiliated with the
Queensland Australian Football League
The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland.
Previously known as the Queensland Football League (QFL), Queensland ...
(QAFL), allowing players not selected for the AFL team to be drafted to individual clubs. Between 1998 and 2010 the club's reserves team participated in the QAFL, where it was initially known as the "Lion Cubs", until 2004 when it became the
Suncoast Lions. In 2011 the team, whose name was now formally the "Brisbane Lions reserves", moved to the multi-state
North East Australian Football League
The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural co ...
(NEAFL). The Lions won their first reserve-grade premiership in 2001 when they defeated the
Southport Sharks
Southport Australian Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, that competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Southport is one of the most successful football clubs in ...
in the QAFL Grand Final, and went on to claim four NEAFL premierships in 2012/13 and 2017/19. Following the NEAFL's dissolvement after the
2019 season, the Lions reserves moved to the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
(VFL), and commenced playing in the competition in 2021. The Lions currently play reserves matches at
South Pine Sports Complex
South Pine Sports Complex is a sport and leisure centre in Brendale, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
It was the primary home ground for the Brisbane Lions in the AFL Women's competition during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. On 18 Febru ...
in Brendale, a facility opened in 2016.
Premierships
Season summaries
Statistics highlighted in bold denote the best known season for Brisbane in that category
Statistics highlighted in ''italic'' denote the worst known season for Brisbane in that category
AFL Women's team
In May 2016, the club launched a bid to enter a team in the inaugural
AFL Women's
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...
season in
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
.
The Brisbane Lions were granted a licence on 15 June 2016, becoming one of eight teams to compete in the league's first season.
Former AFL Queensland employee Breeanna Brock was appointed to the position of Women's CEO the following day.
Tayla Harris
Tayla Harris (born 16 April 1997) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) and professional boxer. She previously played football for and .
Early life and amateur career
Harris was bo ...
and
Sabrina Frederick-Traub
Sabrina Frederick (formerly Frederick-Traub; born 23 November 1996) is an English-born Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She was one of Brisbane's two marquee players for the ...
were the club's first signings, unveiled along with the league's other 14 marquee players on 27 July 2016. A further 23 senior players and two rookie players were added to the club's inaugural list in the league's
drafting and signing period. Emma Zielke captained the team for their inaugural season.
Former Collingwood and Brisbane Bears player and AFL Queensland coach
Craig Starcevich
Craig Starcevich (born 16 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL/AFL. He is the only person in Australian rules football history to win both an AFL and an AFL Women’s premiership, having won the latter as co ...
was appointed the team's inaugural head coach in June 2016. The rest of the coaching team was announced on 8 November 2016 as
David Lake as the midfield coach,
Daniel Merrett
Daniel Merrett (born 12 December 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Merrett was born in Adelaide, but moved to the Gold Coast with his family ...
as the backline coach and
Brent Staker
Brent Allen Staker (born 23 May 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles and in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
Staker grew up in Broken Hill in remote country New South ...
as the forward coach. Car company Hyundai, along with Epic Pharmacy, sponsored the team in 2017.
The Lions have been a successful team in the AFLW reaching the finals in 4 of the first 5 seasons. They narrowly lost
grand finals
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
in
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
and
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, before missing out on finals in 2019. In a shortened 2020 season, the Lions played a Qualifying Final against Carlton before the season was prematurely ended due to COVID border restrictions. No premiership was awarded in 2020. In
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
the team won their first premiership by defeating Adelaide in the grand final.
The team plays its home games at
Hickey Park
Hickey Park is an Australian rules football ground in Stafford, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the primary home ground for Wilston Grange in the Queensland Australian Football League. It has also been featured in the AFL W ...
in Brisbane.
Current squad
Non-playing/coaching staff
Season summaries
^ Denotes the ladder was split into two conferences. Figure refers to the club's overall finishing position in the home-and-away season. Daniel Merrett
Daniel Merrett (born 12 December 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Merrett was born in Adelaide, but moved to the Gold Coast with his family ...
was coach for round 3, and Starcevich was coach for all other matches.
See also
*
Wikipedia listing of Brisbane Lions players
*
Merrett–Murray Medal
The Merrett–Murray Medal has been awarded annually since 1997, to the player adjudged the Brisbane Lions club champion over the immediately preceding Australian Football League (AFL) season. It is named after Roger Merrett and Kevin Murray. Mer ...
*
Australian rules football in Queensland
Australian rules football in Queensland (typically referred to as "AFL", or less frequently "Australian Football", "Aussie Rules" or "Australian Rules") was the first official football code played in 1866. The Colony of Queensland was the second ...
*
Sport in Queensland
Sport is an important part of the culture of the Australian state of Queensland. Golf is the most played organised sport and touch football is the most played team sport. Netball is the most popular female sport, while rugby league is the m ...
*
Sport in Australia
Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football, Rugby league in Australia, rugby league, Rugby union in Australia, rugby union, Soccer in Au ...
*
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...
References
External links
*
The Brisbane Lions – an Overview– Official AFL website of the Brisbane Lions Football Club
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