Twelve months ago on Friday (1 April) … a moment of football poetry when a Zac Bailey goal after the siren completed one of the great Round 3 wins in club history.
It was Brisbane v Collingwood at the MCG on Easter Thursday. The Lions had trailed at every change before Bailey accepted a lace-out pass from Daniel Rich and lined up the goals from 45m.
The siren sounded as he started his approach but unnerved he hit it perfectly and jumped for joy long before it had sailed over the goal umpire’s hat. Brisbane 11-7 (73) to Collingwood 11-6 (72).
It was poetic justice after a week earlier Bailey had been denied a possible match-winning goal after the siren against Geelong when he was not paid a free kick which umpire bosses later admitted should have been paid.
Still, it was a night to behold. Harris Andrews (19), Hugh McCluggage (18), Joe Daniher (three goals), Jarryd Lyons, Ryan Lester and Dayne Zorko (17) headed the Lions B&F voting, Andrews and McCluggage topped the coach’s votes, and Rich picked up one Brownlow Medal.
The win over the Pies at headquarters came after the Lions, with limited personal supplies for what was expected to be a two-night trip, had been forced to stay all week in Melbourne due to a Covid lockdown in Brisbane.
It is one of just three away wins enjoyed by the club in Round 3 in AFL history. Indeed, a 3-1-16 record in 20 Round 3 games away from home in an overall Round 3 record of 11-1-23 confirms just why it was so special and why it heads the ‘Remember When … Round 3’ reflections.
Other special Round 3 moments include:-
1992: A ROUND 3 WIN … AT LAST
It was 1992, Brisbane’s sixth season in the AFL, before the club logged a ‘W’ in Round 3. It came at the original home at Carrara in what was Fitzroy’s last game in Queensland.
Having started the season 0-2 and facing a Fitzroy side that had pumped Essendon by 52 points in Round 2 after a Round 1 bye, the Bears kicked 7-10 to 4-6 in the second half to win by 24 points.
It was a game that belonged Darryl White. In just his third AFL game the then 18-year-old magician kicked his first AFL goal and won AFL Goal of the Year.
White, a skinny kid at 183cm, had already picked up three Brownlow Medal votes on debut, playing as a makeshift ruckman against Carlton in Round 1, picked up three more votes in Round 3 and a $5000 bonus.
It was an extraordinary play. After dropping a mark just forward of centre wing he picked up the ball and ran away from Fitzroy ruckman Paul Abbott. He eluded two more Fitzroy opponents and attempted to fire a short pass to leading Bears full forward Roger Merrett.
The ball bounced off Merrett’s chest and the skipper tapped it towards White. He re-gathered, dodged around two more Fitzroy players and launched a tired shot at goal from 40m near the boundary line. It went straight through.
Michael McLean and David Bain had 30 possessions apiece to pick up the minor medal votes while Merrett and Marcus Ashcroft kicked three goals. Matthew Dundas had 27 possessions to top the count in a Fitzroy side that included a 23-year-old Alastair Lynch in his 82nd game.
2002: LIONS CRASH THE PARTY
The Lions were riding the crest of a huge wave. They were kings of the AFL ‘jungle’ after a win over Essendon in the 2001 grand final and sent another dagger through the Bombers’ hearts in Round 3 2002.
It was the 500th game as an AFL coach for the visitors’ Kevin Sheedy. They were desperate for a win to mark the occasion, which coincided with the AFL debut of 17-year-old Joel Reynolds, son of Essendon legend and three-time Brownlow Medallist Dick Reynolds.
They didn’t get close. A sell-out crowd of 35,898 packed the Gabba as the Lions turned a five-goal second quarter blitz and a 25-point halftime lead into a 17-15 (117) to 9-13 (67) win.
This made it 19 wins in a row – a streak which began with the Round 10 win of 2021 over Essendon in the famous ‘if it bleeds we can kill it’ game, and would stretch to 20 the following week – equal second-longest in AFL history.
Nigel Lappin was best afield with 31 possessions, Simon Black earned two Brownlow Medal votes for his 28 possessions and a goal, and Daniel Bradshaw kicked six goals.
A disappointing result for Sheedy, who became the game’s sixth 500-game coach behind Jock McHale (1938), Allan Jeans (1987), Tom Hafey (1987), Ron Barassi (1995) and David Parkin (2000), but early proof that the Lions’ premiership defence was in good shape.
2019: A PERFECT START
In the overall scheme of the Chris Fagan era at the Gabba Round 3 2019 was important. Coming off two rebuilding years it was time for the Lions to make an impact.
And they did. Fielding the same side three weeks in a row for just the fourth time in club history, they came from 10 points down midway through the final quarter to beat Port Adelaide 16-11 (107) to 13-12 (90) Gabba win to start the new season 3-0 for the first time in nine years.
Lachie Neale, Oscar McInerney, Eric Hipwood and Charlie Cameron kicked the last four goals of a game which belonged to Neale and Hipwood.
In his third Brisbane game, Neale had a then equal career-best 43 possessions – a Round 3 Brisbane record - and a club record 16 clearances to earn two Brownlow Medal votes, while Hipwood kicked a career-best six goals for three votes.
But it wasn’t just a win. It was a sign that standards had risen at the Gabba under coach Fagan, and that now there were different types of wins. Said the coach post-match: "It'll sound a bid odd, but I reckon it's the first time we didn't play well and won".
Certainly, they had turned the corner. After going 10-34 in Fagan’s first two years at the helm in 2017-18 the Lions would go 31-12 in his next two years in 2019-20.
2004: A DOUBLE TON FOR ‘JOHNNO’
Chris Johnson arms himself with a jacket and microphone these days and is doing some very sharp work as a Channel Seven boundary rider. But back in Round 3 2004 it was footy boots and jumper as usual as the ever-popular defender played his 200th AFL game.
It was Easter Thursday as the Lions, early in their quest for a premiership quadrella against the team they’d beaten in the 2002-03 grand finals, hosted Collingwood at the Gabba. And it was Johnno’s night.
The then 27-year-old from Jacana in Melbourne’s northern suburbs via the Northern Knights U18 side and Fitzroy, had long been the playing survivor of the Brisbane-Fitzroy merger in 1996 after heading north as a 20-year-old.
He’d been a key member of the 2001-02-03 premiership hat-trick with his dash from the back half, won All-Australian honors in 2002 and was a massive favorite with fans in both parts of the Lions ‘family’.
Appropriately, the home side marked the occasion with their highest score and biggest Round 3 win in history – 21-11 (137) to 12-5 (77). Luke Power (17 possessions and two goals), Alastair Lynch (seven goals) and Jonathan Brown (three goals) led the way.
ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS
Brownlow Medal Votes: Jonathan Brown 7, Daniel Rich 5, Lachie Neale 5, David Bain 4mm Luke Power 4.
Most Possessions in a Game: Lachie Neale 43 (2019), Craig Lambert 35 (1996), Tom Rockliff 35 (2014), Dayne Beams (35 (2015), Brenton Phillips 32 (1987), Daniel Rich 32 (2017), Lachie Neale 32 (2020).
Most Goals in a Game: Alastair Lynch 7 (2004), Warwick Capper 6 (1988), Roger Merrett 6 (1993), Scott McIvor 6 (1995), Daniel Bradshaw 6 (2002), Eric Hipwood (2019).
