Sandra Dunne woke the kids early on Tuesday morning in Narangba to board a train heading south through Brisbane. She didn’t tell Kasey, 11, Kara, 10, or Kiva, 6, their destination, only that they should prepare for a two-hour trip. Then she put on her Lions cap and premiership polo.
When Dunne first left Portlaoise in Ireland for Melbourne chasing the Australian dream of sun and sport, she followed Geelong. Champion Irishman Zach Tuohy, from her county town, was playing for the Cats then.
But after the weather drew them further north, she and the kids went all in on Brisbane, and will cheer on the Lions to defend their premiership crown against the Cats in the 2025 AFL grand final this Saturday.
As their train pulls up at the city, the office workers pour out and Lions tragics straggle in, the kids begin to tweak.
Who are their favourite players? Charlie Cameron, Kasey says without missing a beat. Cam Rayner, Lachie Neale, Harris Andrews, Kai Lohmann.
What would he say if he met them?
Kasey looks at his mum as the train pulls up to its destination at Springfield, looks at the gleaming new headquarters of the Brisbane Lions football club – and is lost for words.
Another in the crowd of several thousand gathered at Springfield for the Lions’ last open training session before the grand final not only has plenty of words for her beloved team, but baked goods.
Karen Gardyne does not like to pick favourite players. Her last was Ash McGrath, who debuted in 2001 and retired more than a decade ago – the last of the Lions to play in one of the triple-premiership winning teams to do so.
But then, a few years ago, she heard current co-captain Harris Andrews on a podcast talking about “a lady in Melbourne who would bring down slices” for the Lions.
“I thought: ‘Oh my gosh, my hubby works at a bakery, I can get him slices!’” Gardyne says.
So she did, found out that Andrews was “just a beautiful human” and had a new favourite player. Later, Gardyne admits she was being modest. Her husband owns a bakery. And Andrews, apparently, though team leader, does not like to share his slices. So Gardyne took that role upon herself.
“Zorko likes his doughnuts,” she says. “Ainsworth likes his chocolate brownies …”
Gardyne is standing at the entry to the change room with a maroon corflute emblazoned with the Lions logo and the words: Believe. Believe. Believe.
It fell from the walls of the MCG at last year’s grand final, she says, after Brisbane trounced Sydney. Gardyne paid the $100 excess baggage fee to fly it home.
She brought it from Logan to Springfield on Tuesday to get it signed by the players so it can take pride of place among the McGrath posters and other “Lions junk” that clutter her walls.
Gardyne is coy on exactly where the corflute came from. She doesn’t want “everyone doing the same thing this year”. But she is more than happy to divulge her pre-grand final plan. With this, her third consecutive trip to Melbourne for “the big dance”, it has become something of a tradition.
Fly down Wednesday. Get her hair done in maroon and blue. Go to the Sunrise Grand Final Brekky Party on Friday, then the Grand Final Parade, followed by the Lions captain’s run, and dinner with the cheer squad at St Kilda.
Those diehards not lucky enough to score tickets to the MCG are preparing to repeat traditions of their own.
The Young siblings Indigo, 11, Zoe, 9 and Harry, 7, will deck out their Kenmore home with Lions coloured balloons and posters, just as they did last year. And, once again, they’ll put a mane on their cat Tilly for the game.
It’s not just Brisbanites who are forming habits on the last Saturday of September.
Jenine, who works in aged care in Beaudesert, is rostered on for grand final day for the second year running. As she did last year, Jenine will switch every residents’ TV on to the AFL.
Unless she can somehow “manifest a ticket”, Carly Balding and her boys Conner, 10, and Parker, 8, will go through their “superstitions”. Wake up early. Have a nice breakfast. Get the place ready.
They will then fetch grandad, John “Jack” Newton – who played a dozen games for Fitzroy Lions in the 1970s and kicked a few big bags of goals before a car crash cruelled his career – from the granny flat. Switch on coverage from the first minute.
“And dress up as Snoop Dogg,” Parker says of the US rapper, who will headline the pre match entertainment. “Put on the hat and sunnies and sing Drop It Like It’s Hot”.
In this part of the world getting used to a new era of September success, there is room for traditions new and old.
Ipswich school teacher Lachlan says he had to make adjustments to his match attire after the Cats trounced his Lions in week one of the finals.
“I wore my 2024 premiership polo for that game and that didn’t go so well,” he says. “Maybe it was a bit arrogant.”
For the next two weeks, he switched back to his normal maroon Lions polo.
“And that seemed to do the trick,” he adds, modestly. “I’m just doing my little bit, I guess”.
