Life’s all about change, and Youi’s the insurer for all the changes – big and small – that happen to you. That’s why the Brisbane Lions and Youi have teamed-up for the ‘Moments of Change’ series, where each week they’ll look back at some of the defining moments that have shaped the club you know today.

The Brisbane Lions awoke on Saturday morning 29 September 2001 to the realisation that they were on the verge of history. It was Grand Final day. Brisbane v Essendon at the MCG. The Challengers v the Champions. Every footballer’s dream, with the focus of the sporting nation on the team from the AFL’s most northern outpost. It was exciting, and just a little bit scary.

For most, it was unchartered territory. Of the players, only Martin Pike had been there before. But coach Leigh Matthews was a master of grand final week. Four times a premiership player at Hawthorn and a premiership coach at Collingwood, he had guided his troops beautifully through the emotional roller-coaster.

One little piece of advice was huge as the Lions prepared for the biggest moment of change in club history. The moment when the long-time whipping boys from a code so often dismissed as ‘minor’ climbed to the top of the sporting tree.

At the customary recovery session on the Sunday morning after their preliminary final win over Richmond Matthews addressed his entire playing group plus wives and girlfriends and the administration staff for a briefing.

After ensuring that all operational matters like flights, accommodation, buses, tickets and functions, and anything else which could be a problem if not handled properly, were in hand, he instructed all concerned to “live in a bubble”.

It was not ‘just another week’ as was so often the deflecting comment at finals time. It was different. There was no escaping it. Relax, take it all in, and enjoy it, Matthews told his troops. But don’t get caught up in it. Don’t get distracted or over-excited. Don’t let the external factors penetrate the bubble.

And they’d done just, handling the week superbly. With Matthews stepping up to show the way.

In his customary Monday media conference, the master coach fired the first shots in the Grand Final battle of wits, suggesting Bombers supporters were arrogant after Kevin Sheedy had built a case for an “Essendon against the AFL” showdown, suggesting the controlling body had done the Lions plenty of favours over the years.

Matthews reply? “Given that we’re playing at their home venue, that’s a pretty rich argument isn’t it,” he said. Pressed on his coaching counterpart, Matthews added: “Don’t they say there’s a left hand side of your brain and a right hand side of your brain … I always think some people are never quite sure which side of their brain they’re talking to. I’m not saying Sheeds is in that category, but some people are.”

The Lions coach said he expected strong support from non-Essendon supporters around Australia. “I’ve got a feeling that Essendon have been so good for the last two or three years that most unaligned people will be barracking for the new kid on the block.

“I don’t suspect there will be too many people in Melbourne who aren’t Essendon supporters who will be on Essendon’s bandwagon this week. I think they’re sick of the arrogance of the Essendon supporters. Mostly it’s supporters versus supporters, it’s nothing to do with the clubs or the coaches or players. It’s the supporters who tend to have the rivalry and they like to have the bragging rights.”

From Monday morning of Grand Final week the Lions were inundated with good luck messages. Phone calls, faxes, letters and emails by the hundreds. From politicians and dignitaries, sponsors and VIPs. From opposition clubs, too. And from everyday supporters. But one good luck letter was very special.

It was sent to Lions chairman Graeme Downie from former Fitzroy president Dyson Hore-Lacy. The first public show of support for the Brisbane Lions from the proud and defiant man who carried the Fitzroy fight so gallantly through its final years as a stand-alone entity.

Perhaps not the ultimate commendation, but further evidence, certainly, that a ‘marriage’ which started in shaky fashion five years earlier was now a wonderful union of two passionate supporter groups in Queensland and Victoria. It read:-

“On behalf of the directors and members of the Fitzroy Football Club I congratulate the Lions on reaching AFL’s Holy Grail. I would also like to thank you for you’re the genuine efforts your administration has made to embrace the former Fitzroy supporters by giving the Lions as much Fitzroy identity as you felt possible. As you can readily understand, the Fitzroy Directors still have a duty to act in what they perceive to be the best interests of its members. In pursuit of that duty we have assisted in giving our members, who wish to go to the footy every week, an opportunity to support junior teams in Melbourne which carry the Fitzroy colors or names. In no way do we see that function as being incompatible with our members supporting the Lions.

“Your gesture in sending the Fitzroy Reds a good luck card signed by the players is, I believe, demonstrative of an acceptance by the Lions that there is no reason why genuine support cannot be given to the Lions at AFL level, as well as junior football in Melbourne. Our continued operation should not be seen as a threat to the Lions. As I have said at our recent meetings, we are all aiming at the same goal, as far as the Fitzroy side of the union is concerned: that is to give the Lions as much Fitzroy identification as it can without compromising the integrity of the club. In that respect we express our appreciation for the changes that you have initiated this year.

That only leaves one thing to be said. Good luck on Saturday.

Yours sincerely

Dyson Hore-Lacy

The Lions had enjoyed the perfect preparation, with two Gabba finals split by a week off. A brilliant come-from-behind win in wet conditions over Port Adelaide in which they trailed 1-8 to 6-0 in the second quarter before kicking the last eight goals to prevail 12-16-86 to 8-8-56 in front of 32,680 people. And then an all-the-way 68-point win over Richmond in Darryl White’s 200^th AFL game in front of 37,032 people. They’d won 15 games in a row to reach the grand final, and although Essendon were warm favourites nobody was prepared to write the Lions off.

After their Reserves had delivered a good omen when they won the QAFL on the previous Sunday the club had another omen win the night before the grand final when Shannon Rusca won the $20,000 grand final sprint. The 21-year-old wingman had failed to win senior selection in 2001 after playing two games off the Rookie List in 2000. It was the last official duty of the former Northern Territory U18 captain, whose 2001 season had ended on 12 August when he suffered a skull fracture playing in the Reserves. He was off to join the Bulldogs. And while he never played at senior level for the Dogs he has become a familiar face in AFL circles as the main man in a lot of ‘welcome to country’ ceremonies around the League.

But there had been one unwanted distraction in the Lions’ journey to the ‘big dance’. It was a story on Adelaide radio 48 hours after the qualifying final win over Port. A mega beat-up which almost implied the Lions had committed a federal crime in using I.V. fluid replacement at halftime as a means of treating player dehydration.

Matthews couldn’t believe the story, which was understood to have come out of the Port camp. “There’s nothing new or secret about it - we’ve been doing it for two years,” he said, easily deflecting the baseball allegations. “We all know that you can only drink so much liquid and our medical staff believe this is the best way for players to rehydrate in hot and humid conditions.”

In Matthews’ eyes it wasn’t any more than medical experts, at the top of their field, utilizing a perfectly legal technique for the betterment of the players. An obligation to do their utmost for the ‘patients’ as part of a promise Matthews had made to his players when he’d taken charge that they’d have the best support staff possible.

From the moment they took charge the medical team headed by physiotherapists Peter Stanton and Victor Popov, doctors Andrew Smith and Paul McConnell and surgeon Jim Fardoulys, working in close liaison with strength and conditioning coach Craig Starcevich, had been on the lookout for that miniscule edge that might make a difference. A new technique. An upgraded piece of equipment. Anything that would give the players the opportunity to maximize performance.

Intravenous drips, using a standard saline liquid, were new to AFL football but had been used in other sports overseas and were considered invaluable in the warm climate of Queensland, helping to prevent player injury, and enhance post-game recovery.

Significantly, the Lions corrected a gross inaccuracy in some media reports which had suggested players had a plastic shunt inserted in their arm before games to allow the drip to be immediately inserted at halftime. This was totally and utterly false and was a practice that would never be considered by Lions medical staff.

As soon as it all become public the Lions accepted an AFL directive to desist from the practice of using I.V. fluid replacement as a match day treatment for player dehydration. It was the first and only time the Lions Board over-ruled Matthews, who had expressed strong reservations about stopping a practice which was totally legal and of significant benefit to the players. Chairman Graeme Downie said the decision had been taken by the club in consideration of the AFL’s strong desire to maintain the good image of the game.

Downie, too, expressed total support for the coaching and medical staff who, over the previous two years, had endeavoured to provide within the laws of the game the best possible support for players exposed on a regular basis to conditions of high heat and humidity, and repeated travel.

“There was nothing illegal, immoral, unethical or unhygienic about the process our club has followed in the interests of player welfare in both a short and long-term sense,” he said. “But we understand that perception is important in professional sport, as it is in all walks of life, and it is out of respect for the good of the game that we have taken this decision.

Matthews accepted the club had no option. “When you were a little kid did you get your own way against your parents? No. So you just accept it and say ‘oh well, life goes on’.” Typically pragmatic.

The AFL would announce on 11 February 2002 that it would fine clubs $100,000 and strip them of premiership points if they were found using intravenous drips inappropriately during games. The revised legislation allowed for the use of intravenous fluid replacement only if a player was considered so severely effected that he needed the treatment, and in that case would not be allowed back onto the field for the duration of the match.

Grand final selection was as it had been right through the finals – pretty straight forward.

The cards fell badly for Des Headland ahead of the qualifying final. After 20 games in the home-and-away season, including 19 in a row from Round 4, he was squeezed out to make way for the return of Mal Michael from illness.

In the preliminary final against Richmond at the Gabba Alastair Lynch was a compulsory omission due to a one-match suspension handed down on the night of the 911 terror attack in New York. Matthew Kennedy replaced Lynch for what would be his 188^th and last game.

And for the grand final it was as straight forward as it could be - Lynch for Kennedy. The retiring utility joined Headland and Aaron Shattock in the emergencies, while Dylan McLaren and Craig Bolton were extra standby players. Nothing was left to chance.

A host of others, unable to fly to Melbourne after the Ansett collapse which had forced the team to go on charter flights, drove overnight to be there. The club was all in.

A bright, sunny day, with a blustery wind, greeted the Lions on grand final morning. Breakfast at the old Park View Hotel on St.Kilda Road, where the team had stayed in Melbourne from the start of the Matthews tenure, was calm and quiet. Players did as they would normally do, although later it was revealed that some had had a chat about what a nightmare it would be for their direct opponent to win the Norm Smith Medal. Definitely not just another game.

As the last of the players left the breakfast area mental skills coach Dr Phil Jauncey offered an encouraging ‘they’ll be fine - they’re ready” to those still there. “I can’t promise you we’ll win but I can promise you Essendon will have to play very well to beat us. We won’t beat ourselves. We’re ready to play.”

They were comforting words from one of Australia’s foremost sports psychologists, who all week had preached relaxation. The simple instruction to anyone and everyone who would come in contact with the players was to remain relaxed. At least on the outside. Even if you were anything but relaxed on the inside. Because tension had the capacity to spread quickly. And tension was the No.1 enemy of the players in grand final week.

Jauncey, who counted among his big-occasion credits wins with the Brisbane Broncos, Queensland Bulls, Queensland State of Origin rugby league team, Brisbane Bullets and the Australian Olympic softball team, baseball and beach volleyball teams, including Sydney 2000 gold medalists Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst, was satisfied. Convinced even.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of different sports at this level and this is the best prepared team I’ve ever seen in a mental sense,” he said. “They’ve been magnificent this week, switching on whenever they had to do and switching off in between. They’re so relaxed. It’s a real credit to the players and the way the coaching staff have handled them.”

The clock was ticking. Two and half hours to the first bounce as the team bus, accompanied by a police escort, pulled away from the team hotel for the extra-quick trip to the MCG. Two motor cycle cops. One ahead of the bus and one behind as it journeyed down the tram lines of inner-city Melbourne.

Matthews sat as he always did, solo in the front seat behind the driver. He had a steely look on his face. He’d been there before. Seven times as a player and once as a coach. He knew what was required. The bus was quiet yet there was a sense of relaxation. Nobody was getting ahead of themselves. They’d been tuned to the minute.

In every row there was a player with his own special story in a team destined for the biggest moment of change in club history.

Robert Copeland, born in Redcliffe and raised at Kilcoy on the Sunshine Coast hinterland, was one of the best. He was about to become the first person in AFL history to begin a season on the rookie list and end it in a premiership side.

It had been an unbelievable journey for the 20-year-old, who was overlooked in two national drafts before his 2001 rookie opportunity. Without even a practice match at AFL level, he had been thrust untried into the 2001 Wizard Cup Grand Final to replace injured skipper Michael Voss. And he wasn’t his side’s worst player in an embarrassing loss to Port in Adelaide.

On 10 May he was elevated to the senior list after Mick Martin was placed on the long-term injury list. On 26 May, on his 20^th birthday, he made his AFL debut against Adelaide at the Gabba in round 9. And on 7 August, by now established in the senior side, he got the all-clear to play in the finals when it was confirmed that Martin would not be re-activated in 2001. The decision two days before the deadline removed the heavy cloud of uncertainty that had hung over Copeland through 10 consecutive AFL games.

On 30 August his meteoric rise finally suffered a setback when he was squeezed out of the side for the Round 22 clash with Sydney. The return of Darryl White, Clark Keating and Alastair Lynch from suspension, injury and illness meant that one ‘regular’ had to go. It was Copeland. But on game day Mal Michael went down with a heavy flu and Copeland won a reprieve. And when Michael returned for the first final it was Headland not Copeland who made way.

Marcus Ashcroft had celebrated his 30^th birthday on the Tuesday of grand final week with a monster media conference at the Gabba. He talked of the 13-year dream of one day playing in an AFL grand final. A dream that was now four days away. “To see where we are now at the Gabba with the magnificent facilities, we’ve got a great board, a great match committee – everything about the place now couldn’t be better,” said Ashcroft, who made his debut with the ‘Bad News Bears’ in 1989. 

“I’m proud of the guys and proud of the way the club is going. Looking at our list when I first started the majority of the guys were over 26 years of age, and Matty Kennedy and I were the only Queenslanders among 60. Now, our core is between 20 and 26 and we’ve got 10 Queenslanders in 38. It’s good to watch the young guys grow and develop into young men and great athletes as well.”

AFL statistics had revealed that Ashcroft would take his own special place in League history if the Lions were to win the Grand Final, displacing ex-Melbourne and Carlton ace Greg Wells (246 games) from the top of a list of players who had played most AFL games before finally tasting premiership success. For Ashcroft, the Grand Final would be his 268^th game.

In pure time, Alastair Lynch had endured the longest wait of all the Lions to get to a grand final. He pipped Ashcroft by a year, having begun his AFL dream in 1988 with his debut as Fitzroy played Footscray at Whitten Oval. And he’d had to endure a torturous visit to the tribunal after the first final, when he pleaded not guilty to a goal umpire’s charge of striking Port Adelaide’s Darryl Wakelin in the opening minute.

Video evidence of the incident, captured by chance by an AFL film crew sent to the ground to film marketing footage, showed Lynch pushing Wakelin in the face with an open hand, and Wakelin going to ground. The tribunal noted that Lynch, never before suspended for striking in 14 years and 248 AFL games, seemed to be the retaliator in the incident and that his actions were ‘reckless’ and ‘off the ball’. After a 90-minute hearing they took into account the player’s exemplary record and a glowing character reference from ex-Brisbane coach Robert Walls in imposing a penalty they admitted may have been more severe but for his record of just a one-match suspension for charging in 1996 and a $4000 melee fine in 1998.

Darryl White had kept a low profile in grand final week - not surprising after he’d grabbed national headlines via a frank media interview on 18 September to celebrate his 200th AFL game in the preliminary final. The electrifying utility, the fifth Aboriginal player to post his double-century behind Nicky Winmar, Chris Lewis, Peter Matera and Gavin Wanganeen, had talked openly of how one wayward night in his teenage years had cost him dearly and indirectly helped turn his life around. He admitted football had saved him from a life of crime.

''I was a pretty troubled 16-year-old. I used to be out stealing handbags, BMWs and breaking shop windows,'' said White, who had been very much a role model in Brisbane. ''There were only two roads for me - I could have been up the road in jail or standing here in the middle of the Gabba looking forward to a milestone game. I'm proud it's the latter.''

A visit from ex-West Coast Eagles stars John Worsfold, Karl Langdon and Chris Lewis while White was in a WA juvenile detention centre in 1989 changed his life. ''They came in and spoke about little things like eating correctly and being courteous. It mightn't sound much but they were idols and you respected what they said. They also made the point it didn't matter whether it's a pack of chewies or a BMW. It was the principle. If you wanted something you had to work for it and stealing would only lead to ruin.''

White had recounted his story for the club magazine two years earlier in the hope of sending a positive message, but until his 200^th game had never felt comfortable speaking with the media. Until now. Now he had volunteered to be a founding member of the AFL's Beyond Blue program, via which players would talk to juveniles on the pitfalls of life. He was further motivated to get all the positive publicity he could. “I've done too many bad things in my youth not to try to give something back. If I can help kids in any way I will.''

Jason Akermanis, crowned the 2001 Brownlow Medallist on the Monday night of grand final week, was playing for his mother Shona, who in 1997 had died of cancer at 41. He was just 20.

Jonathan Brown was to be the youngest player in the grand final. A month short of his 20^th birthday and set for just his 38^th AFL game, the boy from Warrnambool had played every game throughout the 2001 campaign. Little did anyone know at the time that Brown, a life-long Fitzroy fanatic and just five years old when the Brisbane Bears had played their first game, had played the latter stages of the 2021 season with a bad thumb. And four weeks later he would undergo a thumb reconstruction that would require three months’ rehabilitation.

Michael Voss had been Brisbane’s youngest player on debut in 1992 at 17 years and 11 days, and the club’s first Brownlow Medallist in 1996. Yet midway through 1998 he lay in a Perth hospital with a badly broken leg, uncertain whether he’d ever play again. Now he was set to lead his side in search of immortality.

Justin Leppitsch was a four-game AFL rookie when in 1993 he suffered what the club surgeon at the time described as the worst knee injury he’d ever seen. For 15 months Leppitsch didn’t play. And for nine years he’d resisted the pull of homesickness and the temptation to return to Victoria to remain loyal to the club that had given him a chance. And to the players who had become his best mates.

Just like Nigel Lappin. A boy from Chiltern, the son of a local butcher so shy and so country that if had to live in Melbourne to play AFL football he might not have bothered. Brisbane had been a salvation. It was time to repay the debt.

Shaun Hart had seen the club’s darkest hours. With Ashcroft, Voss and White he had played at Carrara. Ten years earlier he’d gone within a whisker of being sacked by the club when coach Robert Walls, needing to de-list two players, had narrowed his choice down to three. The other two went. Hart survived.

Daniel Bradshaw hadn’t played a game through injury in 1999. Clark Keating and Brad Scott likewise in 2000. Yet all three were ready for the game of their life. So, too, Martin Pike and Mal Michael, who 12 months earlier were playing elsewhere. It was all about right place right time.

Just ask Chris Johnson. He almost had to be dragged from Melbourne to Brisbane after the Bears/Fitzroy merger in 1997. Initially he didn’t want to be there. Yet now, as the last survivor from the so-called “Chosen Eight” of the ‘old’ Lions, there was no other place he wanted to be.

Brad and Chris Scott were looking to become the AFL’s third set of premiership twins. It was an honor that only Collingwood’s Teddy and George Lockwood (1902-03) and Geelong’s Alistair and Stewart Lord (1963) had experienced. And that after the Brisbane pair had manufactured a trade four years earlier that would move Brad from Hawthorn to Brisbane to reunite them in the same colors.

Craig McRae had left Adelaide for Brisbane seven years earlier to a ringing in his ears – he was too small for AFL football. Not good enough. The Crows, his “home” side, didn’t even express a moment’s interest in securing his services as he emerged through the ranks at Glenelg. Yet in 2001 he was the Lions’ official good luck charm. He hadn’t played in a losing side all year.

Simon Black, Luke Power, Beau McDonald and Tim Notting were introduced to AFL football in 1998. What a beginning! Their side finished last amid massive off-field turmoil. They had learned very early to treasure every win. To appreciate that success doesn’t come easily.

The bus pulled up outside the members entry on the northern side of MCG, where hurriedly the players made their way through masses to the dressing rooms. A 1pm walk on the ground settled the nerves, giving the grand final newcomers a chance to experience the atmosphere and get the awe of the occasion out of their system before it was time to switch on.

Then it was down to business. Strapping, massage and special medical treatment. Each player had his own routine. Matthews spoke to his troops at 1pm and he played a five-minute video tape put together by Video & Statistics Manager Daniel Knoche. To the music of Olivia Newton-John’s “Dare to Dream” and John Farnham from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it highlighted extra special efforts of each player. Not the glorious stuff but the little things. Like tackles and spoils. The team things. The message was clear and simple. Together they would win. Doing it for each other.

As the players gathered in the coach’s meeting room for one last chat before they took to the field there were some clear messages written on the whiteboard. Caught after the game for posterity’s sake by club photographer Ron Lockens, the key points were simple:-

• Controlled aggression of mind and body
• Pound in at the ball – down low at the ball

• Attack the hips when second to the ball – dump them
• Forward under pressure / Use free teammate if time and space allows
• Attack the goal front – space
• Play your role – know / accept / perform
• Disciplined and thoughtful starting points
• Total involvement football

With that captain Voss grabbed youngster Matthew Stin, who had been invited to be the grand final mascot after his father Adrian made a massive donation of artwork for the grand final banner. Together they led the Lions into battle.

Thanks to our friends at Youi for helping bring this series to life.