Lions.com.au’s Carl Nimb caught up with former Bears and Lions player Tristan Lynch, who played 55 games in three seasons with the Club from 1996-1998.

Few people probably know that you were first drafted to Collingwood in 1992. What happened after that Draft when you arrived at the Magpies?

I was drafted to Collingwood in 1992 Draft but was delisted in March the next year before the season even started. I was a Collingwood supporter my entire life prior to getting drafted, and when this situation happened it pretty much broke my heart. Unfortunately I had to head back to Sale with my tail between my legs.

I played the 1993 season at Sale and played some pretty good footy. I then got put on Richmond’s supplementary list for two years for the 1994-95 seasons.

Unlike the rookie list which exists these days, you weren’t able to get upgraded to the senior list if you were on the supplementary list. It was pretty much a minimal contract to play reserves football for Richmond. 

How close did you get to becoming part of the Tigers’ primary list?

I had a really good season in my first year (1994) and actually ended up finishing Runner-Up in the reserves’ Best & Fairest award.

Richmond basically said that I was going to get elevated straight onto their senior list rather than going via the Draft. But they changed their mind at the last second and I ended up playing another year of reserves footy in 1995.

And then, in a nice twist of fate, you ended up following then Richmond coach John Northey to Brisbane at the start of the 1996 season...

I actually had no idea that John was interested in me, and when I got to Brisbane he actually stated that he would have played me in the seniors during my second year at Richmond if I had been eligible.

Prior to heading up, I was still training with Richmond at the start of the pre-season as I only joined Brisbane in the March Draft of 1996. I didn’t really know until the last week of the draft period that Brisbane was keen and it was all pretty exciting after that.

How did you find the move from Melbourne to Brisbane? It must have seemed a different world in relation to AFL?

I absolutely loved it. I loved my time in Brisbane. I was a pretty quiet and reserved type of guy back then and I really enjoyed the lifestyle.

My wife, at the time my girlfriend, was up there as well and we both loved it up there.

The move meant that I could finally have my shot at it. At that time I had worked damn hard to get a shot at it and I believed that I had what it took to make it. I think that was the major difference, I had put everything into it and wanted to repay the faith that Brisbane had put in me.

At the end of your first season with the Bears, the Club merged with Fitzroy to form the Brisbane Lions. Were the players aware of exactly what was happening?

I can’t really remember the lead-up to it, but it seemed very sudden and before we knew it we were getting seven or eight Fitzroy players at the Club. It wasn’t hugely discussed, it sort of happened and there we were.

When the playing list was being finalised during the merger did you have any close friends or teammates that were moved on from the Club?

Not that I recall. We obviously lost some players but none that I considered my really close mates at the Club thankfully.

In the second season of the merger, the Lions ‘won’ the wooden spoon by finishing last on the ladder. Was it a turbulent time to be part of the Club?

It was a funny year in 1998. There was a fair bit happening off the field. John Northey got sacked during the year, and this was coming off 1997 when we played Finals and got bundled out the first week. Then the wheels just seemed to fall off.

It was as much off the field as on the field issues going on at that stage.

You got to play in four Finals matches with the Bears/Lions. Were they among your career highlights?

Yeah, we played finals in 1996 and actually played in the Preliminary Final and lost to North Melbourne who would go on to win it against Sydney in the Grand Final.

We’d beaten North Melbourne twice during the season, with one of the wins actually coming in Melbourne as well which was in about Round 20 or Round 21.

We went in reasonably confident but Michael Voss hurt his ankle the week before when we flogged Carlton, and both he and Jason Akermanis pulled out during the warm-up before the North Melbourne game.

It was really tough losing two key players before a massive Preliminary Final. It may have gone the other way if they were available.

Speaking of Voss and Akermanis, were you aware at the time of just how good they were about to become?

Well Michael Voss was already the Captain in my eyes (in 1996) and a genuine superstar. He was the best player that I ever played with.

Aker was a funny one. Everyone could see his natural ability and as he matured, he really came into his own. But even back then, he could win a game of his own boot. We always knew he had enough ability – it was just a matter of getting the one percenters right.

You were traded to Geelong at the end of the 1998 season. How did that come about?

Well, I will tell you a little story. Obviously Leigh Matthews was at Collingwood when I first got drafted in 1992, so he had already gotten rid of me once. When he was appointed coach of Brisbane, deep down I was a little worried and thought “Oh no what is going to happen here”?

At the start of the pre-season I got the schedule for our trainings along with a hand-written note from Matthews saying: “really looking forward to working with you. I know there is a bit of history between us, but I have been watching you and am keen to get working”.

About a week after that I got a call from Stephen Wells from Geelong saying they were pretty keen to get me across, and that’s pretty much how it went down. It was not the phone call that I wanted to get. I was a bit devastated, but that’s life.

I was great mates with Craig McCrae back then and he is still one of my best friends now. Danny Dickfos was another close friend – Nigel Lappin and Benny Robbins as well. It was a different feel up there, and I had gone through the hard yards and was starting to make my way.

A lot of the guys weren’t from Queensland, so you formed pretty close relationships and that suited me down to the ground. It suited my personality and it almost felt like you were playing for a big country footy club. You could go around and no one would hassle you, and you could just get on with it.

Was it a bit of a culture shock moving from Brisbane to Geelong?

There was no real problem from a public interaction or public gaze point of view; I just didn’t enjoy it down there. Geelong is a great club, but when you make that bond with players that you are playing with at Brisbane and then head to a new club and start all over again it just wasn’t the same.

You get a lot of kicks in the guts playing footy and I already had a few early in my career, and by the time I got to Geelong I wanted to do well and keep my career going but it just didn’t feel the same.

It wasn’t that I was unhappy, it was just that I much preferred my time in Brisbane than anywhere else.

You were eventually delisted by the Cats at the end of the 2000. Was that tough to take?

When I got there Gary Ayres was the coach, and I had him for one year and then Mark Thompson came in. I was in the second year of my two-year deal and I only played four games in 2000.

There was a group of us in the same boat playing in the reserves, and you got the sense that the writing was on the wall because no matter what you did you couldn’t get a look in. I had an inkling and there were a few others that knew what was coming.

It seems like a brutal industry when looking at it from a football fan perspective…

A lot of the general public don’t realise what the players go through and they only really see the star players and what happens with them.

I only class myself as a borderline average AFL player, and there is a lot of pressure in the industry. If I wasn’t so strong mentally and didn’t want to succeed then I am sure I would not have.

That is something that you can take away from it. You have to work hard to get a shot at it. I was able to do that, and finished my career with no regrets.

Do you still follow the footy and the Brisbane Lions regularly?

I still support the Lions and my little fella supports the Lions also. I know they are going through a bit of a change-over and I want to see Justin Leppitsch do well. Hopefully they can get back on track.

Who was the toughest opponent that you played on?

Andrew McLeod or Anthony Koutoufides. I tagged Kouta one day at Optus Oval and he is a massive unit.

Another day I was playing on the back flank, it may have been Round 1 in 1997, and McLeod was playing on the forward flank and if I took my eye off him for a second he was gone. He was that quick. I think I got dropped the week after!

You mentioned Vossy earlier – what was it like playing alongside one of the game’s all-time greats?

He had an ability to make you feel better about yourself and you would do anything to please him. You would run through a brick wall for him.

He was a leader through both words and actions. Actions mean a lot and he put his body on the line every week and came up with the goods most weeks.

If you were the CEO of the AFL for a day what rule would you change?

The holding the ball rule. It is driving me bananas. So much for laying a good tackle these days, you just don’t get rewarded for it.


Carl Nimb is an independent writer and Lions Member (#2604559) who will contribute to lions.com.au throughout the season.

You can follow him on Twitter @CarlNimb