Lions Stun Cats

In 35 years of Round 2 matches Brisbane have never quite produced anything to match the very first in 1987. An unforgettable win at one of the toughest away venues built on statistically the best individual performance in club history despite a masterclass from one of the all-time greats, it was special.

Coming off a fairytale MCG win over North Melbourne in their very first game, the Brisbane Bears trekked down the highway to meet Geelong at Kardinia Park in Round 2 with their feet having barely touch the ground.

The football world was in a state of disbelief over a Brisbane team made up of “mis-fits, has-beens and money-grabbers on a superannuation trek”, insisting Round 1 was a fluke and refusing to believe they cold do it again in Round 2.

They did. Coming from six points down at halftime the Bears prevailed 23-12 (150) to 19-17 (131) despite a brilliant eight-goal haul from Gary Ablett Snr. In his 58^th game Ablett kicked 8-5 for a Cats outfit captained by Damien Bourke and led by 32 possessions from Andrew Bews, both later to wear Brisbane colors.

The Bears, with ex-Collingwood rover Gary Shaw becoming the first Queenslander to wear Brisbane colours and ex-Fitzroy utility Daryl Cox playing his only game for the club, also had an eight-goal hero. Jim Edmond, ex-Footscray captain and Sydney forward, kicked 8-3.

But the star was vice-captain Mark Williams. Splitting his time between the centre square and the full forward line, Williams had 30 possessions and kicked six goals.

Astonishingly, neither Edmond or Williams, or Ablett, were in the Brownlow Medal votes. They went to second-game Bear Matthew Campbell, Mike Richardson and captain Mark Mickan.

Just as astonishing was the AFL ladder. The mis-fits and has-beens were one of four unbeaten sides.

Thirty-five years on the Brisbane score from their unforgettable visit to the Cattery remains the club’s second-highest in Round 2 and the highest ‘away’ Round 2 score. Williams remains the only player in the club’s XX-game history to have 30+ possessions and kick six goals in the same game. And Edmond’s eight-goal back has been better by only three Brisbane players – Jonathan Brown (10), Brad Hardie (9) and Daniel Bradshaw (9).

OTHER MEMORABLE MOMENTS – ROUND 2

Steve McLuckie: A Debut to Remember

These days Steve McLuckie is the Executive Principal/CEO of the Australian International School and an influential leader in education in Australia, having previously been Executive Principal at Varsity College, Principal at Southport State High and Deputy Principal at Helensvale State High.

But 30 years ago, in Round 2 1992, McLuckie was delivering a lesson all of his own to 25,000-plus one-eyed Collingwood fans at Victoria Park. It was lesson which said young Queenslanders can play AFL football.

Just 45 days beyond his 19^th birthday, the Surfers Paradise and Southport junior made his debut with the Bears against a Magpies outfit which included two future Brisbane premiership coaches. Three-time AFL flag—winner Leigh Matthews was coach of a Collingwood side which included 24-year-old 87-gamer Craig Starcevich, inaugural coach and 2021 premiership coach of the Brisbane AFLW side.

Collingwood won by 66 points but McLuckie, wearing the #40 jumper, had one of the great Brisbane debuts. He picked up a team-high 25 possessions and kicked a team-high four goals. Twice as many as any other Brisbane player.

McLuckie, a Queensland zone selection in the 1990 AFL Draft, had been a member of the Bears’ 1991 AFL Reserves premiership. He played 13 AFL games in 1992 and seven games in ’93 before being delisted.

Lethal: A Double Triple Century

In Round 2, 2002 Leigh Matthews became the 17^th man in AFL history to coach 300 games and the first to play and coach 300 games separately.

It was against his former club Hawthorn at the Gabba, and it was if the Lions players wanted to recognise what the master coach had done for them and the club, and what would later follow.

Coming off their first flag in 2001, the Lions took on a Hawks outfit that had been preliminary finalists the previous year. And they dealt them a 102-point obliteration.

It was no small thing. It is the biggest win for a coach in his 300^th game among the elite group to reach this milestone. And it was Brisbane’s biggest win against Hawthorn in 52 meetings.

It was a Sunday afternoon at the Gabba. The first quarter gave little indication of the carnage that was to follow. The Lions led by three points. At halftime it was 32 points before the home side added 8-4 to 1-3 in the third quarter and 6-4 to 2-1 in the last to win 21-22 (148) to 6-10 (46).

Captain Michael Voss, who had established such a close working relationship with his coach, led the ‘party’ with 26 possessions, three goals and three Brownlow Medal votes. Simon Black (28 possessions, three goals) earned two votes, and Martin Pike, throw a career life-line by Matthews little more than 12 months earlier at 28, picked up one vote.

Matthews, 37 days beyond his 50^th birthday on the day of his 300^th game as coach, sits eighth on the AFL’s all-time ‘games coached’ list at 461 behind Mick Malthouse (718), Jock McHale (713), Kevin Sheedy (678), Allan Jeans (576), Tom Hafey (522), David Parkin (518) and Ron Barassi (515).

He enjoyed 10 100-point wins as a coach (seven with Brisbane) and nine 100-point wins as a player with the Hawks. He never played in a 100-point loss and was only twice subjected to this ignominy as a coach – one each with Collingwood and Brisbane.

Voss Double Century

It will forever remain one of the most horrifying memories for long-time Lions fans … the day Michael Voss shattered is leg playing against Fremantle in Perth in 1998.

It was his 107^th game. The Lions lost by 71 points and three days later coach John Northey was sacked. The club was in turmoil as Roger Merrett was appointed caretaker coach and the then 22-year-old lay in a Perth hospital.

Within two hours of breaking his leg Voss was on the operating table at Perth’s QE2 Medical Centre, where a 9ml steel rod was inserted down the middle of his tibia, the large bone between the knee and the ankle. When he awoke, his swollen calf was bigger than his thigh.

It was described as ‘a car accident injury’ and would have ended the playing career of most. Not Voss. He played again in Round 2 1999 – the club’s second game under Leigh Matthews.

And in what was a genuine triumph for sheer will, in Round 2 2003, Voss posted his 200^th game. It was against Port Adelaide at Football Park and, fittingly, the Lions won by 10 points over one of their big rivals of the time.

Voss’ subsequent recollection of his horrific injury, which occurred as he ran to spoil a mark by Fremantle’s Shane Parker was vivid, to say the least. It gave a special insight into the Lions champion.

“Originally I thought I wasn’t going to get there and I’d just hold him up. But I was going pretty quickly and I then thought I could get there to spoil. I just jumped as hard and as high as I could. He was backing back pretty hard and something had to give. Unfortunately it was my leg,” he said.

In the rooms, waiting to be taken by ambulance to hospital, Voss said the pain was excruciating as he lay there, looking at the broken bone sticking up at him. “They cut off my boot and my sock, and they told me the bone hadn’t split the skin which was apparently a good sign. When we got to the hospital they cut off my shorts and jocks so I could go into surgery but I wouldn’t let them cut off my jumper. I made them take that off,” he said.

It had all happened in a game Voss wasn’t meant to play. He’d been under an injury cloud all week and had already been told he required a minor knee operation. But he insisted on playing. “We were really struggling and I just felt I had to do whatever I could to help turn things around,” he said.

An Easter Special

In Round 2 2010 a bumper Gabba crowd of 36,780 turned out for an Easter Thursday epic against Carlton, when Brisbane came from seven points down at three-quarter time to win by 19 points.

It was Brendan Fevola’s second game for Brisbane, his first and only game against his former club, and the first Gabba sell-out since 2005.

Fevola kicked three goals in what might have been a lethal key forward pairing with Jonathan Brown, but was upstaged by the Brisbane stalwart, who was best afield with seven goals.

Round 2 – By The Numbers

In 35 Round 2 games the Bears/Lions have posted a 16-19 win/loss record. They’ve gone 10-8 at home – Carrara in the early days and more recently the Gabba – and are 6-11 away.

Lachie Neale’s 43 possessions against Geelong in Geelong in Round 2 last year is a Brisbane Round 2 record.  Next best was Adrian Fletcher’s 34 possessions in 1993 and 33 possessions in 1994. Simon Black, Luke Power and Dayne Beams also posted 33-possession games in Round 2, with Scott McIvor, Nigel Lappin and Pearce Hanley getting 32.

Jim Edmond’s eight goals in the club’s first Round 2 fixture in 1987 (above) remains the club’s best. John Gastev, Michael Voss, Daniel Bradshaw and Jonathan Brown are next best on the list with seven-goal hauls.

Jonathan Brown and Luke Power head the club’s Round 2 Brownlow Medal vote count with nine apiece. Michael Voss and Simon Black polled eight Round 2 votes, with Lachie Neale fifth on the list with six votes from 2019-20.