Tony Beckett was a tearaway wingman from Everton Park via Mayne who holds a special place in Brisbane Lions history. He was the first player to step straight from local football to AFL ranks with the club. And he did so day in an extraordinary way on a famous day.

Beckett debuted in Round 5 1987, when the Brisbane Bears beat Melbourne by five points at Carrara to register their first ‘home’ win. Starting on the bench, he was injected into the game shortly before half time. And he didn’t just make up the numbers. He was a standout in an unfamiliar role at half forward in front of his own personal cheer squad that was as vocal as any in the crowd of 7451.

The then 26-year-old had 19 possessions and a goal as the Bears, down by as many as 28 points in the first quarter and behind at every change, got up 12-14 (86) to 12-9 (81) after the lead changed hands five times in the final term.
Beckett’s first AFL major score in the first minute of the fourth quarter put the home side in front for the first time. It came from a difficult 45m set shot after he’d run down Steven Stretch from behind in a brilliant diving tackle to earn a free kick. Later, Beckett found Peter Banfield for the clincher.

It was a fairytale as good as any after Beckett had been a key member of the Queensland State side through the early and mid-1980s that indirectly played a role in the establishment of the Queensland AFL side after they dominated regular fixtures against Tasmania, NSW and the ACT.

The circumstances of his Carrara debut were downright spooky on three counts. Four years earlier the 1982 Mayne QAFL premiership player had been chosen from outside a 45-man squad for the first of 18 matches for Queensland.

On the same ground two years earlier he had captained Queensland for the first time against Fitzroy in the first AFL match of any description at the ground that is now home to the Gold Coast Suns.

Just as remarkably, his AFL debut came 18 months after a knee reconstruction restricted him to just eight QAFL games in 1986. Even before Christmas he’d required further clean-up surgery before he could join full Bears training with any real confidence. And when the club fielded 43 different players in five practice matches he had not been among them.

But after an encouraging preparation post-Christmas Beckett replaced 79-game St.Kilda/Hawthorn utility Robert Mace on the Bears playing list in the lead-up to Round 5 after Mace had undergone mid-week achilles surgery that would sideline him for the entire 1987 season.

While Beckett was the first player to step straight from QAFL ranks to the Bears side he was technically the third Queenslander to play for the club after ex-Collingwood rover Gary Shaw did so in Round 2 and ex-Essendon premiership utility Frank Dunell followed in Round 3.

Beckett, one of the original QAFL development officers in 1983 and still in that role at the time of his AFL debut, got his first taste of the big time alongside Ben Harris, a (very) broad-shouldered fullback from Port Adelaide in the SANFL. On the same day ex-North Melbourne defender Peter Smith made his Bears debut after just seven days earlier been among a group of players working to help get the Carrara ground ready for the Bears first home game.

The late great Phil Walsh, who in Round 4 had posted the Bears’ first 30-possession game at Carrara, backed up to top the possession count against Melbourne with another 30, while Jim Edmond kicked three goals. The Brownlow Medal votes went to Steve Reynoldson, Mark Williams and Brenton Phillips.

Beckett, always a reliable player at Queensland level, would play only six AFL games before his bad knee finally caught up with him.  Later to run his own home air-conditioning service and coach at Redcliffe, he was inducted into the Queensland Hall of Fame in 2008.

His remarkable story is the headliner for the ‘Remember When … Round 5’ series which also includes the heroics of another Queenslander, a major coaching and playing milestone, and a sad moment at the Gabba.

 

1992: A DRAW … AND WHAT A GOAL

The Bears posted the first draw in their 117-match history against West Coast at Carrara in Round 5 1992. It was Round 5 on Saturday night, 18 April, 1992. The unlikely hero was 19-year-old Queenslander Ray Windsor, in his 10th senior game and his first of the year.

It had been a titanic struggle, and when Dean Kemp put the Eagles a goal clear with 51 seconds to play all seemed lost for the home side. But David Bain won the ball on the wing and bombed it in towards centre half forward.

Windsor marked on his chest. He hurried back to his mark, knowing time was short. Just before he kicked the ball the siren sounded, but he was into stride. There was no stopping him and from about 35m on a 30-degree angle he banged it over the goal umpire’s head to tie the scores.

It was Brisbane 14-8-92 v West Coast 13-14-92 in what coach Robert Walls described as a step up the ladder towards respectability. “No-one respects the Bears but watching around the country tonight they would have said ‘Gee, those young blokes had a crack at it. We’ll take it as a win’.

And they did. “It was the only highlight of my short career,” Windsor, a former Mackay junior who would play 23 games for the Bears from 1990-93, quipped later. “Danny Noonan went absolutely ballistic and pretty soon everyone had jumped on me. It was the first time we hadn’t lost to West Coast so it felt like a win for us.”

 

1996: A SAD MOMENT

Nobody knew it at the time, but in Round 5 1996, Sunday afternoon 28 April, Fitzroy played their last game at the Gabba. And in the 299^th AFL game and the 150^th Brisbane game of captain Roger Merrett, they copped a 109-point hiding.

It was a sad day, but with it came a glimpse of the future. In a Fitzroy side coached by Mick Nunan were six future Brisbane players, including two who together would win six flags.

Chris Johnson, later to become a 2001-02-03 Brisbane premiership star, was one of five members of the Round 5 Fitzroy team who seven months later would join Brisbane via the merger. The others were captain Brad Boyd, Scott Bamford, John Barker and Jarrod Molloy.

The sixth future Brisbane Lion, wearing the colors of the Fitzroy Lions, would have a five-year wait to join Johnson at the Gabba. Overlooked at merger time, Martin Pike played 81 games with North Melbourne from 1997-2000, including the ’99 premiership, before a Brisbane call-up which saw him become a part of the same 2001-02-03 golden era.

For the record books, Merrett led the 24-14 (158) to 6-13 (49) win with five goals, while Shaun Hart, Nigel Lappin, Justin Leppitsch and Darryl White kicked three apiece. Craig Lambert (32), Lappin (30) and Adrian Fletcher (30) topped the possession count, while the Brownlow votes went to Michael Voss (28 possessions, two goals) Lambert and Lappin. Boyd had 32 possessions for Fitzroy and Barker kicked three of the visitors’ six goals.

 

2006: ANOTHER MATTHEWS MILESTONE

While it’s difficult to find a round in which Leigh Matthews did not do something special during his time with the Brisbane Lions, Round 5 of 2006 was extra special. And not just for ‘Lethal’.

With Brisbane trekking west to meet West Coast at Subiaco, Matthews marked his 400^th game as an AFL coach. He was the 12^th person to do so and the last. Or least until the recently-retired Alastair Clarkson coaches 10 more games in his strongly-muted comeback.

Still, you need only to look at the 10 coaches who got to 300 games without reaching 400 to understand the enormity of the Matthews milestone. On top of Clarkson there is Robert Walls, John Worsfold, Rodney Eade, Reg Hickey, Frank Hughes, Ross Lyon, Dan Minogue, Denis Pagan and John Northey.

Sadly, it was a match-up that promised trouble and delivered exactly that, with the Eagles’ 18-14 (122) to 9-9 (63) win leaving them the only unbeaten side on top of the ladder and sending the Lions to the bottom.

If ‘Lethal’ needs any reminding of just how long ago his 400^th game was, he need only consider the fact that only one player from that match is still playing. It was the AFL debut of West Coast 18-year-old Shannon Hurn, who last weekend played his 305^th game at 34.

 

2012: A TRIPLE CENTURY

In 100 years of Fitzroy and more than 30 years of the Brisbane Bears/Lions only twice had the club celebrated a 300^th game milestone. It was Kevin Murray for the Melbourne-based foundation club in 1973, and Marcus Ashcroft for the pioneering Queenslanders in 2003.

Murray was two days short of his 35^th birthday when he became the game’s 6^th 300-gamer in 1973, while a 31-year-old Ashcroft was the 31^st 300-gamer in 2003.

But in Round 5 2012, Saturday night 28 April at the Gabba, two became three. With the Lions hosting Geelong the spotlight fell on a 33-year-old Simon Black as he became the 65^th triple centurion in AFL history.

It was a special moment in a journey which began in Round 1 1998 when the Lions, under John Northey, lost by 46 points to the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba in what was the club’s 246^th game.

Black, six days short of his 19^th birthday, had been a bonus-plus pick-up in the 1997 AFL draft when he slipped through to the Lions at #31. It was a shock to most and a delight to the Lions to snare the thinly-built midfielder who in addition to a fine football pedigree at East Fremantle came from a middle-distance running background.

The Lions had already drafted Luke Power at #6 and Shane O’Bree at #19, and could not get the name ‘Black’ out quickly enough after North Melbourne had taken Bendigo Pioneers rover Paul McMahon at #30. He never played an AFL game while Black became one of the game’s very best.

Black’s was player #153 on the all-time Brisbane list when he debuted alongside Brad Scott, who had joined the club from Hawthorn. His 300^th game was the club’s 578^th. He’d missed just 32 games in 15 years. And when Dayne Zorko debuted a fortnight after the Black triple century he was player #257. The 104^th newcomer of the Black era. And by the time he retired at the end of 2013 a further 10 had joined the ‘family’.

With Murray having lost his 300^th game to Geelong in 1973 and Ashcroft his 300^th to Sydney at the SCG hopes were high that at the Gabba they’d get a win for the man of the moment.

Michael Voss, captain of Black’s first game, was coach of his 300^th. The Lions were coming off a 14-point win over Geelong at Geelong – still the club’s last win at the ‘Cattery’ after their loss there last weekend. Ironically, another ex-teammate, Chris Scott, was in the Geelong coach’s box.

Sadly, the 300^th game curse struck again. It wasn’t anything like the celebrations the Lions camp had hoped for the triple premiership superstar. The home side didn’t kick their first goal until 19 minutes into the third quarter and needed the last three goals of the final term to cut the loss to 38 points. It was 4-17 (41) to 12-7 (79).

 

ROUND 5 STATS LEADERS

Brownlow Medal Votes: Michael Voss 11, Nigel Lappin 7, Jonathan Brown 6.

Most Possessions in a Game: Lachie Neale 37 (2021), Adrian Fletcher 35 (1995), Nigel Lappin 35 (2005), Jarryd Lyons 35 (2021), Brenton Phillips 33 (1989), Gavin Keane 33 (1990), Jack Redden 33 (2015).

Most Goals in a Game: Roger Merrett 7 (1993), Daniel Bradshaw 7 (2008), Daniel Bradshaw 6 (2003), Roger Merrett 5 (1996), Justin Leppitsch 5 (1998), Jarrod Molloy 5 (1999), Alastair Lynch 5 (2000), Chris Scott 5 (2005).