Brisbane Lions

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:For the soccer club that played in the NSL from 1977–1988, see Brisbane Lions SC

Template:Infobox aus sport clubThe Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club (the trading name for the Brisbane Bears-Fitzroy Football Club) are an Australian Football League club based in Brisbane, Queensland.

The Lions are the only AFL club permanently based in Queensland.

Contents

Club history

Template:UnreferencedThe club was formed from the post-1996 merger of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy, and is known as the Brisbane Lions. The side plays its home games at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (also known as the Gabba).

Background to the merger

Template:SeeTemplate:SeeFitzroy was formed on 26 September 1883 at the Brunswick Hotel and was a founding member of the VFL. They wore blue shorts and their jersey and socks were maroon. Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy became the club’s home ground.

Formed on 6 October 1986, the Brisbane Bears were a young club and during the club’s short ten year history the Bears were unable to win any Premierships. With Peter Knights as the club’s first coach, the Bears home ground became Carrara at the Gold Coast and being the first Queensland club in the VFL, this code was only just beginning. But in 1993 the Bears moved permanently to Brisbane, The Gabba.

On 4 July 1996 the Australian Football League (AFL) approved the first ever club merger in Victorian Football League (VFL) and AFL history, between the Fitzroy Lions and the Brisbane Bears.

The combination of the two clubs led to the creation of a great team. The Bears had unluckily lost the Preliminary final to the Kangaroos in 1996, and although Fitzroy had finished as wooden spooner during its last two seasons, the club did contain a number of promising young players. On 4 July 1996 it was decided that the Brisbane Lions would be created. The Brisbane Lions were officially launched on 1 November 1996, joining the national competition in 1997.

Post Merger

In their first year as the Brisbane Lions they made the finals but despite a talented playing list, the club finished last the following year, resulting in the sacking of coach John Northey with eight rounds of the season remaining. Over the summer, the club replaced Northey with Leigh Matthews, who in 1990 delivered Collingwood its only premiership since 1958.

Matthews, voted the player of the century in 2000, played his entire career with Hawthorn during the club's most successful period and brought many of the Hawthorn disciplines to the Lions game. Within a season he lead them from the bottom of the ladder to 4th, losing to the eventual premiers the Kangaroos in the preliminary final, before placing 5th in 2000.

2001 - First premiership

The club won its first league premiership in 2001, by defeating Essendon in the grand final. The final score of the 2001 AFL Grand Final being Essendon 12.10.82 to Brisbane 15.18.108. Lions utility player Shaun Hart won the Norm Smith medal as best player on the ground and the match saw the Lions heavily supported by the neutral fans at the ground. On the morning after winning the flag, the club took the premiership cup to the Brunswick Street football ground, the original home of the Fitzroy football club. It was an important way of connecting with the traditional Lions fans and many of those disaffected when one of the foundations clubs was forced into a merger could truly see the way in which the new entity was honouring the history of its Melbourne based component. Then the premiership cup made its historic first trip to what had historically been a rugby league focussed state.

In the same year, Brisbane Lion (and former Bear) Jason Akermanis won the league's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal.

2002 - Back-to-back premierships

In 2002, the Lions repeated as premiers, defeating Collingwood in the 2002 AFL Grand Final 10.15.75 to 9.12.66 in freezing, wet conditions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Early in the contest the Lions lost both ruckman Beau McDonald and utility player Martin Pike (who had already amassed 9 possessions in the first quarter) to injury and had to complete the match with a limited substitute's bench. Despite not scoring a goal in the first quarter, the undermanned Lions overcame a spirited Collingwood in the tightest premiership decider in 15 years. Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley won the Norm Smith medal which was decided 20 minutes before the conclusion of the match. However, Lions captain Michael Voss, in an inspiring performance made the difference between the two clubs during that final phase of the match and it is now widely believed that he was the best on the ground that day.

Brisbane Lion Simon Black won the Brownlow.

In 2002, former Brisbane lawyer, Michael Bowers became Chief Executive Officer, as part of as move to turnaround the Club's problematic finances.

2003 - Three peat

In 2003, the Brisbane Lions became the first Grand Final participant in AFL history to have three Brownlow Medallists in its lineup, the third being 1996 winner Michael Voss. With a number of players under an injury cloud, and having lost to Collingwood in an earlier final that year, the Lions went into the game as underdogs. However they stamped their greatness on the competition by inflicting a humiliating thrashing upon the Magpies. At one stage in the final quarter the lions lead by almost 80 points before relaxing when the match was well and truly won and allowing Collingwood to score the last 4 goals. The final score of 20.14.134 to 12.12.84, saw the club become the first in the AFL to win three consecutive Premierships since Melbourne in 1957. Simon Black claimed the Norm Smith Medal with a compelling and dominant 39 possession match, which has been reported as the most possessions ever gathered by someone in a grand final.

2004

In 2004, the Lions fell just short in its quest for a fourth consecutive flag, losing to Port Adelaide in the 2004 AFL Grand Final. At the twenty minute mark of the third quarter, the Lions led, but were over-run by a fresher Port Adelaide which had two additional days to prepare for the match as a result of playing their preliminary final on a Friday night.

Despite requests for fair treatment, the Lions were forced to play its preliminary final against Geelong in Melbourne on the following evening, despite the club having fairly earned the right to stage a home final. This resulted in Brisbane travelling home to prepare for the grand final on the Sunday morning while their grand final opponents Port Adelaide were into their second recovery day. It became a telling factor during the final 30 minutes of the premiership decider.

During this four year period, the Brisbane Lions became the most dominant team of the modern era. Many purists have argued that in the time of salary cap and a player draft specifically designed to assist the weaker clubs, not to mention the travel demands of modern football, the performance of the Brisbane Lions during this period is unequalled by any club in history including the great Collingwood side to claim four consecutive flags in the late 1920s.

2005

The Lions had an inconsistent season in 2005, and fell away badly towards the end, losing many games by very large margins. 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 lineup, 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.

2006

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 Rugby League premiership winning Brisbane Broncos.

Justin Leppitsch and Brad Scott announced their retirements during the season. A controversial 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 5.4 million dollars over three years.

The Brisbane Lions team of the decade fullback Mal Michael announced his retirement from football on Thursday 5 October due to lack of motivation and desire to pursue other non-football related activities. He was one of the premier fullbacks in the AFL and was very unlucky not to receive an All-Australian honour, despite being one of the most consistent players in the AFL over many years. He represented his country in International Rules Football against Ireland in 2004, playing as a Goal-keeper, was a pivotal figure at the Brisbane Lions and played a significant role in each of the grand finals contested as, along with Justin Leppitsch and Chris Johnson he led the defence in limiting the output of the opposition's best forwards.

Inspirational Skipper Michael Voss also announced his retirement from football on Friday 6 October 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 Alistair 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 remains as the last ever representative of the Fitzroy Football Club to be playing senior AFL football.

Team of the Decade

The first AAPT Brisbane Lions Team of the Decade was unveiled at the club’s gala 10 year anniversary black tie ball before 800 people at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Thursday, 22 June 2006.

Backs: Chris Johnson, Mal Michael, Darryl White

Half-Backs: Marcus Ashcroft, Justin Leppitsch, Chris Scott

Centres: Nigel Lappin, Michael Voss (c), Brad Scott

Half-Forwards: Jason Akermanis, Jonathan Brown, Craig McRae

Forwards: Luke Power, Alastair Lynch, Daniel Bradshaw

Rucks: Clark Keating, Simon Black, Shaun Hart

Interchange: Martin Pike, Tim Notting, Jamie Charman, Richard Champion

Coach: Leigh Matthews

Corporate

Membership base

Year Members Finishing position² Average crowd
1997 16,679 8th 19,550
1998 16,108 16th 16,675
1999 16,931 4th 21,936
2000 20,295 5th 27,406
2001 18,330 1st 27,313
2002 22,288 1st 26,904
2003 25,578 1st 31,462
2004 30,941 2nd 33,574
2005 30,027 11th 33,101
2006 26,459 13th 28,305¹

¹(as at 20 August 2006)
²following finals matches

Sponsors

Guernsey Manufacturers

Manufacturer Years
Puma AG 1996-2000
Russell Athletic 2001-2006
Puma AG 2007-Onwards

Major Sponsors

Sponsor Years
Carlton & United Breweries 1996-2000 (As Co-Sponsor with Coca-Cola)
AAPT 2001-2006
Vodafone 2007-Onwards

2001 Grand Final

Template:Main

2001 Carlton & United Breweries AFL Grand Final G B Total
Brisbane Lions 15 18 108
Essendon 12 10 82
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground Crowd: 91,482

2002 Grand Final

Template:Main

2002 Carlton & United Breweries AFL Grand Final G B Total
Brisbane Lions 10 15 75
Collingwood 9 12 66
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground Crowd: 91,817

2003 Grand Final

Template:Main

2003 Carlton & United Breweries AFL Grand Final G B Total
Brisbane Lions 20 14 134
Collingwood 12 12 84
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground Crowd: 79,451

2004 Grand Final

Template:Main

2004 Toyota AFL Grand Final G B Total
Port Adelaide 17 11 113
Brisbane Lions 10 13 73
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground Crowd: 77,671

2006 Season

Rnd 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Opp Gee Ess StK Ric WCE Syd Haw PA Fre Col Ade WB Car Mel Kan Haw Ess Gee Ric WCE Syd StK
Venue SS G TD G S G C AS G MCG G G G G TD G TD G TD G TS G
Result L W L L L L W W W L L L W L W W L L L L L L
Margin 77 18 37 14 59 32 40 69 68 26 15 42 15 8 1 10 37 17 82 62 57 51


Individual awards

Best and Fairest

Merrett-Murray Medal

Year Player(s)
2006 Simon Black
2005 Jason Akermanis
2004 Nigel Lappin
2003 Michael Voss
2002 Simon Black
2001 Simon Black & Michael Voss
2000 Michael Voss
1999 Jason Akermanis & Justin Leppitsch
1998 Chris Scott
1997 Matthew Clarke

Brownlow Medal winners

Leigh Matthews Trophy winners

Norm Smith medal winners

Mark of the Year winners

Goal of the Year winners

All-Australian players

National team representatives (since 1999)

Club facts

Premierships

Grand Finalists/Runners Up

Wooden Spoon

Coaches

Captains

Biggest home crowds

Rank Crowd Round/Season Result Opponent Brisbane Lions Opposition Margin Venue Day/Night/Twilight
1 37,224 15/2005 Win Collingwood 19.19 (133) 7.13 (55) +78 The Gabba Night
2 37,032 PF/2001 Win Richmond 20.16 (136) 10.8 (68) +68 The Gabba Night
3 36,803 4/2003 Win Collingwood 14.11 (95) 11.15 (81) +14 The Gabba Night
4 36,467 3/2004 Win Collingwood 21.11 (137) 12.5 (77) +60 The Gabba Night
5 36,197 1/2003 Win Essendon 14.20 (104)<