This time last year, Dayne Zorko collapsed to the ground like Sergeant Elias in Platoon. Twenty minutes later he was in the rooms, firing out XXXX cans from the esky, like Greg Williams from the bottom of a pack. By that point Chris Fagan had already been in his players’ ears – be humble, stay fit, don’t come back heavy the way Hawthorn did in 2008, and don’t squander the opportunity to build on this success.
As Brisbane basks in their back-to-back premiership, it’s worth reflecting on a hinge moment early in the 2024 season. The Lions were 13th, had won two from seven, and had just been smacked by GWS in Canberra. Weighed down by the ongoing Hawthorn racism allegations, Fagan was having health problems and had asked the club for several weeks off. Against Gold Coast in round eight, they lost Brandon Starcevich in the warm-up. Lincoln McCarthy, a popular and talented forward, ruptured his ACL. An hour later, Darcy Gardiner wrecked his knee as well, the fifth player on the list to do so. But they beat the Suns, in a win Fagan described as one of the most significant in his time in football, and they were up and away.
The challenges this year were different. They had a tough draw, as the reigning premiers should. They had five double-ups against the top nine contenders, as well as against the very capable Sydney. They had some tardy patches, especially early in the season. They drew with North Melbourne and lost three games at the Gabba. By August, their season was dangling. They were as poor as they’d been for a long time against Gold Coast. Their midfield and rucks were annihilated. Their run home looked challenging. With two rounds to go, they could still finish top two and they could still miss the eight.
But they always stepped up when it mattered most. When they needed to win the critical last game against Hawthorn, they found a way. When Collingwood had the crowd and all the momentum in the preliminary final, Brisbane absorbed their best punches and began to roll. They proved so many times this year that they’re a team that learns its lessons – against Collingwood, against Gold Coast and against Geelong. They were supposed to be the banged-up ones. Geelong was supposed to be the team with all the run in their legs. Instead, the Lions went into hyperdrive. Despite the blowout, it was a terrific grand final, and hopefully it’s remembered as such in decades to come.
They’re perfectly set up to compete for a long time to come. They had five players in the All Australian squad and another five in the Under-22 team. They have such a good balance – of experience and youth, of tall, small and hybrid, of attacking, defensive and line breaking midfielders. They’ll welcome some gun players back from long-term injuries and somehow slot Oscar Allen into that forward line.
When Joe Daniher put his feet up, the question mark was where all their goals were going to come from. The football world only properly appreciated him right at the end. He’d kicked 61 and 58 goals in his final two years, both of them grand final years. He took the best defender every week and always played well in big games. “Don’t be surprised if Ty Gallop pops up as a pretty good AFL player later this year,” Fagan said. Well, he popped up all right. In just his sixth game, he’s already played in more finals than Robbie Flower, and now he has a premiership medallion.
I’ll sign off with a word on Chris Scott. He has done remarkable things at his club. But he is a terrible loser. We saw the best and worst of him after the game on Saturday. He congratulated each Lions player individually. He sought out his good friend Marcus Ashcroft, his two sons and his daughter, who may well end up being the best player in the family. But then we got the usual passive-aggressive fare afterwards. It was less of a press conference and more of a press statement, and not an especially classy one: “I hope this doesn’t sound like sour grapes, but … ”; “Without going into detail … ”; “I’m not making excuses but … ” It makes him and the club sound like a bunch of moaners. They were beaten fair and square by a crack side, which Scott was at pains to remind us. It’s just that he always says it through gritted teeth, and not entirely convincingly.
