The Brisbane Lions staged the eighth greatest comeback in the history of the game last Sunday when they upset premiership fancies Geelong at the Gabba.

The Lions trailed by 52 points at the 22 minute mark of the third term, before piling on 10 of the last 11 goals of the match to snatch what seemed an unlikely victory just 30 minutes earlier.

It proved the greatest comeback in the Club’s combined 127-year history, overtaking the Bears’ 51-point effort against Hawthorn back in 1995 at the same venue.

The Bears’ feat, however, remains the AFL’s biggest ever comeback from a three-quarter deficit (45 points).

That particular win propelled the Bears onto winning five of their remaining six home-and-away matches (including a couple of top four scalps), which was enough for them to scrape into the AFL Finals for the very first time.

Hopefully the Geelong triumph can help the Lions generate similar momentum in the second half of the 2013 season.

The merged Lions have been involved in another remarkable comeback in recent times – against Port Adelaide in Round 4 of 2008. 

In one of the most remarkable turnarounds in VFL/AFL history, the Lions overturned a 47-point deficit late in the third quarter to run out 20-point winners.

Battling torrential rain in a foreign and hostile environment, the Lions dug deep and kicked 11 of the last 12 goals of the match – including 9.6 in the final quarter – to secure a victory that then Senior Coach Leigh Matthews labelled as the “best comeback” he’d been involved with at the Club.

The 67-point turnaround was the largest by a team playing interstate since the competition went national in 1987 and the seventh on the all-time list.

On the list of successful comebacks by sides playing interstate, it was second only to the 51 point margin that West Coast reeled in on its way to a four-point victory over Geelong at Skilled Stadium during its premiership year of 2006.

As amazing as the AAMI Stadium triumph was, it has probably been superseded following the events that unfolded at the Gabba last Saturday.

It wasn’t just the comeback that will help the Cats game go down in Club folklore, but also the fact that it was achieved on a night when Simon Black and Ash McGrath celebrated significant milestones.

And the climax couldn’t have been scripted any better, with Black leading the final quarter surge and McGrath kicking the match-winner from a set shot outside 50m after the final siren.

Lions.com.au has dusted off the old records books to provide fans with a comprehensive list of the AFL’s best comebacks.

VFL/AFL BIGGEST COMEBACKS

VFL/AFL BIGGEST COMEBACKS (3/4 TIME)

VFL/AFL BIGGEST TURNAROUNDS