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.

With 60 seconds to play in the 2003 AFL Grand Final Michael Voss pulled off the track suit top he’d worn sitting on the bench throughout the final quarter and made his way back onto the MCG.

The Lions had the game and an astonishing third premiership in a row locked up. Easily. But even in the overwhelming emotions coach Leigh Matthews was thinking clearly enough to ensure his wounded captain was on the ground at the final siren.

It was only right. And after being given a huge ovation as he ran on and again when he took an uncontested mark in the defensive 50m zone, Voss thrust his arms skyward when time was called.

Matthews, walking from the coach’s box down to the playing arena, did likewise, adding his trademark double fist pump as the masterminding pair saluted one of the most extraordinary achievements in football.

As Anthony Hudson said in commentary: “The Bombers, the Hawks and the Crows couldn’t do it in the 80’s and the 90’s but the Lions have gone back-to-back to back to become the greatest side of the modern era. They are football’s invincibles.”

Former Brisbane coach Robert Walls, part of the television commentary team, was short and to the point in typically staccato fashion. “Magnificent. Three in a row. Football history. The best team I’ve seen.”

The Lions had become only the fourth side in history to win three premierships in a row, emulating the Carlton side of 1906-07-08 and the Melbourne sides of 1939-40-41 and 1955-56-57 to rank behind only the four-in-row Collingwood premiership sides of 1927-28-29-30.

They had done what Essendon and Hawthorn, premiers in 1984-85 in 1988-89, and Adelaide, premiers in 1997-98, had failed to do. They’d climbed the mountain not once and not twice but three times.

It wasn’t just a moment of change …. It was an era of change. A time when the AFL confirmed it really was a national competition as a team from Queensland, for so long a football outpost, had stamped themselves as arguably the best team of all-time.

And from that day on, whenever there is a conversation about the best of the best, the Brisbane Lions of 2001-02-03 are always going to be in it. And after Hawthorn completed a 2013-14-15 premiership hat-trick and Richmond won three flags in four years in 2017-19-20 the debate raged. Who was best?

It is a question without a definitive answer. But what is undeniable, and a massive factor in the ‘who was best?’ debate, is that the Lions did what they did despite flying interstate every second week, and playing the premiership decider as the ‘away’ side. Something Hawthorn and Richmond didn’t have to conquer.

In 2001-02-03 Brisbane played 53.9% of games at home and 46.1% interstate, including three grand finals at the MCG against teams that are regulars at headquarters.

In 2013-14-15 Hawthorn played  63.2% in Victoria, including three grand finals against interstate teams,15.8% of games at their ‘home away from home’ in Launceston (where they went 12-0), and just 21.1% of matches at other interstate venues.

And in 2017-19 Richmond played 76% at home, including two grand finals against interstate teams, and 24.% interstate. And in the shortened Covid season of 2020, when Richmond spent much of their time based in Queensland, they played 23.8% at home, 52.4% in Queensland (where they did not have to fly), including a neutral grand final at the Gabba, and 23.8% at other interstate venues (where they did have to fly).

In grand finals during their premiership hat-trick, Brisbane were effectively the ‘away’ side against Collingwood (twice) and Essendon, Hawthorn were effectively the ‘home’ side against Fremantle, Sydney and West Coast, and Richmond were effectively the ‘home’ side twice against Adelaide and GWS and a neutral team against Geelong once.

During their golden era six Brisbane players won a combined 13 All-Australian blazers. In the equivalent period Hawthorn had five players win seven blazers, and Richmond four players win five blazers. Only Brisbane’s Voss and Nigel Lappin were All-Australian in each year of their hat-trick, with Voss twice named All-Australian captain during this time.

Brisbane twice won the Brownlow Medal, Richmond once and Hawthorn not at all. Brisbane polled a total of 291 votes, ranking 1^st-1^st-2^nd in team vote tallies. Hawthorn polled 261 votes and ranked 4^th-2^nd-5^th. And, after amending the Richmond total in 2020 to off-set the shorter side, they had 224 votes to rank 5^th-7^th-9^th.

Certainly, at the time the great Ron Barassi, star of the great Melbourne of the 1950s and an AFL Hall of Fame Legend, suggested the Lions of the 21^st century could rightfully claim to be the best of all time. “What Brisbane has done is a better achievement. The game was a lot smaller in those days. There are more teams and the game now embraces all the nation,” he said.

Irrefutable, too, is the fact that the Lions hat-trick, which took the Matthews/Voss team from good to great to immortal, changed the narrative on the club completely. It confirmed the club’s standing as a legitimate member of the national competition. That Collingwood chairman Eddie McGuire led a campaign to try to quell their back-to-back conquerors said it all.

The Brisbane hat-trick is the envy of the other interstate clubs, who have won a combined nine AFL flags in the modern era. Never again will Brisbane be an AFL out-post. Of the other non-Victorian teams, West Coast have won four flags spread over 27 years in 1992-94-2006-18, Adelaide won in 1997-98, Sydney in 2005-12 and Port Adelaide in 2004.  

Three-in-a-row is something that might never be achieved again, such are the equalisation measures employed by the League. It’s getting tougher and tougher each year.

The mind boggles when thoughts turn to what could have been in 2004, when circumstances conspired against the Lions in their bid to win four in a row. Having to play what should have been a Gabba preliminary final at the MCG and go into the grand final on a short turnaround was too much. Just.

Still, the 2003 Grand Final is a memory that Lions fans will cherish forever.

Unlike in 2001-02, when they’d had taken the easiest path possible to the grand final, with two Gabba finals split by a week off, in ’03 they had to play every week of September and were spread across the MCG, the Gabba and Stadium Australia in Sydney before getting back to the ‘G’ for the decider.

That Voss watched most of the final quarter of the grand final win was the final chapter of an extraordinary journey not just through the finals but for more than half the season.

For the second year in a row the skipper had undergone mid-season surgery. It was meant to be a four-week process but such was Voss’ mental strength he missed just two weeks. And only one match because of the mid-season bye.

Unbeknown to most, Voss had battled through the next 10 weeks, hoping his knee would get a little better each week. In reality it got a little worse each week until the start of the finals. And then it got worse still.

For the first time in the golden era the Lions were taken out of their comfort zone when, after finishing third on the home-and-away ladder, they lost the qualifying final to Collingwood at the MCG. There would be no repeat of the ‘straight sets’ finals campaign of 2001 and ’02. In 2003 they would have to play every week in September after a 15-point loss to the Pies on Saturday night 6 September.

The Lions kicked six goals in the first 43 minutes and managed just one for the ensuing 80 minutes to lose a titanic arm wrestle 7-9 (51) to 9-12 (66). It was their lowest score of the year and, worse still, Voss had injured his knee again. He spent the entire last quarter on the bench and Matthews admitted later he thought his captain had played his last game of 2003. Privately, the medical staff feared as much, too.

But Football Manager Graeme Allan wasn’t about to give up on the game’s No.1 player. Sitting glum-faced in the MCG rooms before catching the team bus back to the hotel, he was determined to find a solution. David Young, he thought. One of the premier surgeons in the AFL. He summonsed assistant-coach Craig Lambert, who had a long-time and close relationship with Young. It was after 11pm but they called him anyway. Young discussed Voss’ injury with the Lions medicos and club surgeon Jim Fardoulys. Together, they devised a course of action.

The following morning Voss, who also had feared the worst, stayed in Melbourne when the team flew back to Brisbane. He had an MRI scan at The Avenue Hospital in Windsor. On Monday he visited Fardoulys in Brisbane armed with the scans. There was no further structural damage. No risk to his long-term future. Just the pain issue. Fardoulys expertly injected some local anaesthetic into Voss’ knee. He had a light run on the Monday afternoon and we walked off the ground with a giant smile before taking the rest of the week off. With Fardoulys traveling to each match thereafter to repeat the process, Voss would get through the rest of the gruelling finals campaign.

The injury-plagued start to the Lions finals campaign was nothing compared to what would follow in grand final week, when Nigel Lappin was a reluctant centre piece of a remarkable story of courage and inner strength. But that was still a long way off. The Lions had to get there first.

Playing in the second week of September was a new experience but it was the perfect tonic. They hosted Adelaide at the Gabba on Friday night, 12 September, and, inspired by a magnificent Voss performance coming off the bench for the first time in as long as he could remember, won by 42 points.

Alastair Lynch kicked six goals and Lappin was supreme through the midfield. But more important than the fact that they won was how they won. They kicked 7-4 to 2-3 in an emphatic final term to win 18-16 (124) to 12-10 (82). It was a massive confidence-booster at just the right time.

The following week the Lions travelled to Sydney for their first final outside Brisbane and Melbourne. Their first game, ever, at the Olympic Stadium, where three years earlier Australian golden girl Cathy Freeman had stopped the nation with a 400m triumph of epic quality.

It was Saturday night, 20 September. A crowd of 71,019 was on hand. And at three-quarter time they could smell a Sydney win. The Lions led the by three points but the home side had kicked the last four goals and was powering home. It was only the most loyal Brisbane supporter who didn’t fancy a Sydney-Collingwood grand final after the Magpies had disposed of minor premiers Port Adelaide in a major upset earlier that afternoon.

But the true class of the defending premiers stood up as they produced a finish of Freeman-like proportions. Martin Pike, Jonathan Brown and Jamie Charman took charge in the final stanza. Ashley McGrath kicked one of the goals of the year – a midfield smother to win possession followed by a 75m torpedo that rolled over the line with barely a centimeter to spare. They added 6-6 to 0-1 to win 14-16 (100) to 8-8 (56).

But as the siren sounded to signal the Lions’ third consecutive grand final appearance Nigel Lappin sat glumly on the bench after collecting an accidental knee in the ribs from teammate Shaun Hart in a marking contest 15 minutes from full-time. He went with Dr Paul McConnell to Concorde Hospital immediately after the match and several painstaking hours later X-rays confirmed a broken rib. And so the anguish of the next seven days began.

It was going to be a shorter grand final week than the previous two because they’d played in Sydney. It was Sunday afternoon before they got home so they had one day less to prepare. They’d kept the routine as close as possible to that which had proved so effective in 2001 and 2002. Yet for many it was nothing like the previous two years, which had been incident-free. Especially Lappin.

The club had tried to conceal the nature of Lappin’s injury from the media. It was everything from a badly bruised hip to a bad back, depending on who you listened to. But when his wife Claire drove him to the Gabba for physiotherapy on the Monday morning the cover was blown. An awaiting photographer caught him. He was in excruciating pain and could barely get out of the car.

On the Monday night Lappin chose not to attend the club’s Brownlow Medal dinner. “I hadn’t been able to sleep hardly at all on Saturday or Sunday nights so I stayed home and went to bed early, and it was actually the first time I’d got to sleep,” he explained later. “And just when I got to sleep I got a text message from Megan Akermanis (Jason’s wife) saying ‘you’re leading the Brownlow - you better get down here’. Then Claire’s Mum started texting her, saying ‘Nigel is winning’ and all this sort of stuff. I thought ‘leave me alone – I just want to sleep’ but that went on all night. I was lying in bed in my boxers. If I’d won and anyone came to the door it would have been pretty funny.”

Lappin had led the count after 12 rounds with 16 votes but missed Rounds 16-19 with a thigh problem. He finished 12^th with 17 votes five behind a three-way tie between Adelaide’s Mark Ricciuto, Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley and Sydney’s Adam Goodes. Michael Voss, the pre-count favourite and leader after six rounds, finished equal 7^th with 19 votes. It was the fourth year in a row the skipper had polled 16 votes-plus and the seventh time he had finished in the top 10.

On the Tuesday the Lions expert medical team called in Dr Moore to determine if it was possible for Lappin to even contemplate playing. Looking at him it would have seemed the most unlikely thing of all. He could barely walk. Touching the ground was impossible. To play a grand final in five days was unthinkable. But admit defeat? No way.

Lappin was going through mental hell. And pain to match. There was severe bruising and soft tissue damage as well as the fracture as he contemplated what would be a repeat of the now legendary heroics of Hawthorn’s Robert Dipierdomenico, who played with a punctured lung in the 1989 grand final after a heavy early clash. It seemed an eternity away, but a pain-killing block, inserted at the Mater Private Hospital, worked well enough to at least give him hope. For medical staff to be able to say to coach Leigh Matthews ‘he’s a chance’. To buy them about 72 hours. Until 4pm Friday when the triple All-Australian would face a very public fitness test.

At Wednesday’s team training at the Gabba Lappin was a spectator, doing some slow handball drills on the sideline with assistant-coach Craig Lambert. He barely moved. When occasionally the ball hit the ground he preferred to kick it to Lambert rather than bend down and pick it up. But on Thursday afternoon he took his place on the team charter flight to Melbourne. Soon after they landed in football headquarters he was named in the Lions grand final side, which had been pencilled together on the Wednesday night to complete travel plans and satisfy the AFL’s 6pm Thursday selection deadline.

Lappin thought he’d play, but he still didn’t really know. Nobody knew. The players were told that everyone in the 25-man grand final squad was still very much in contention. Even 19-year-old Jason Gram, who had played just two AFL games, had been under consideration as an extra half back running type early in the week. But a hamstring strain at Wednesday night training ended his dream in what would be his last act as a Lions player before an off-season trade to St.Kilda.

At 8.30am on Friday morning Lappin and Dr Smith visited the Orthotic & Prosthetic Centre (OPC) in Port Melbourne. It was the company which had made a special comeback head guard for Essendon captain James Hird after he had suffered horrific head and facial injuries in 2002. They visited Mark Randall, an ever-helpful clinical orthotist and prosthetist, and a keen football fan, albeit an Essendon supporter.

A specialist in the design of protective devices, he had heard media suggestions that Lappin may wear the same guard Hawthorn’s Dermott Brereton wore to protect a broken rib in the 1989 grand final. Knowing how far technology in this area had progressed, Randall telephoned the club to discuss the possibility of designing a protective guard more specific to Lappin’s rib problem. It would maximize the impact protection and minimize the restriction of movement, he said. Worth a try.

On the spot the OPC staff manufactured a one-off guard. It consisted of 2cm thick high-density foam, with a 3mm hard thermo-plastic covering and a 3mm soft neoprene cover, with a 5mm rubber strap attached to some Velcro that wrapped around him to hold it in place. It was moulded to the shape of Lappin’s ribs, and the finishing touches were completed as Lappin hurried off to take his place in the Grand Final Parade. All for $240.

On the Friday afternoon Lappin completed the light team training session at Albert Oval, where about 5000 fans gathered across the road from ‘Camp Lion’, the club’s ever-comfortable Melbourne home for five years. Some stride-throughs. A few light kicking and handball drills. Other than the fact that he felt like he was leaning to the left all the time – a side-effect of what was a reduced level of local anaesthetic for his ribs – he was fine. And then it was time. Aaron Shattock, himself on the comeback trail from injury and named among the grand final emergencies, was the ‘crash test dummy’. He was under strict instructions to ‘go hard’.

Said Lappin later: “Leigh threw the ball to Shatts and said to me ‘go and tackle him’. I went and tackled Shatts and he just barrelled into me. He hit me really hard and it took the wind out of me but it made me a lot better because I got up and it didn’t hurt too much. I thought ‘they’re not going to hit me any harder in a game’. We did a few tackles and then Leigh asked if I wanted to do anything else for my confidence. I got Shatts to hit me a few times and take a couple of marks over my head while he banged me in the ribs. That was all fine so the decision was pretty much made then. It was still a little bit sore but I was OK.” Outwardly Lappin showed nothing. To those who defied a heavy mid-training downpour to see the most important fitness test of the year all seemed well. But still nobody really knew. Not for sure.

With the immeasurable benefit of medical hindsight the fitness test most likely did more harm than good. The first Shattock hit most likely caused a small puncture in Lappin’s lung. Or at least that’s what the medical team concluded about 40 hours later when the puncture was discovered on the Sunday morning.

Even as the team had strapped for their final training session of the year there was drama. Matthews, uncomfortable with the uncertainty of it all less than 24 hours from game time, had set a 4pm deadline. “If he’s not ready to train that’s it – he’s out,” barked the coach, unaware at the time that Dr Moore’s flight from Brisbane didn’t arrive in Melbourne until 2.15pm, and that he wasn’t scheduled to administer the ‘block’ until 3pm. It was a 30-minute procedure if everything went according to plan. Any slight delay and they were in trouble. Happily, all had gone smoothly.

Matthews was satisfied. He thought, then, that Lappin would play and he conducted his planning and his team meeting which followed training accordingly. Lappin agreed. “I was playing – I was happy and pretty confident I’d be OK,” he said.

But it wasn’t as simple as that. Lappin still had to contend with the mind games going on inside his head. “I’m a bit of a thinker – I think about things. The only thing that was going through my mind was ‘what if I get out there tomorrow and play badly in a grand final and let the team down because I wasn’t fit enough to be playing?’ I was pretty stressed,” he said. So he had a good chat with mental skills coach Dr Phil Jauncey to help keep his mind on the right path.

On standby, ironically, was Lappin’s best mate. Chris Scott, a long-time house mate in their early years in Brisbane and groomsman at the Lappin wedding 50 weeks earlier, had been a key member of the 2001-2002 premiership sides, and but for injury himself would have been lining up for No.3. But with so many ‘crocks’, most particularly Lappin, Voss and Lynch, who would not have played had it been anything less than a grand final, coach Matthews couldn’t afford to take in another suspect player.

“I got to sleep no worries but I woke up about 12 or one and I was as sore after the fitness test as I had been on Saturday and Sunday nights,” Lappin said. “Because it was so sore and breathing was hard I couldn’t get back to sleep. My neck was all swollen and it felt all squashy. As it turned out, it was air but I thought it was just fluid that had leaked up from my chest. I hate waking people up but I rang the docs’ room and luckily they were still awake having a couple of beers. So I took a couple of sleeping tablets and got a few more hours sleep. But by four o’clock I was wide awake and I got up about five and watched a bit of telly.”

Lappin had an early breakfast and rang his pregnant wife Claire, who was staying with the other players’ wives and girlfriends at the Holiday Inn, adjacent to the Melbourne Convention Centre, for a little reassurance. “I didn’t want to be a burden on the team. I knew I wouldn’t be at my best but it was whether my 80% was good enough to be out there. I was a bit stressed,” he said. As he said it some time later, he looked across at Claire. Her raised eyebrows and knowing shake of the head suggested he was more than just a bit stressed.

There was an air of cool, quiet confidence among the Lions group on Saturday morning. Just as there had been when, as underdogs, they beat Essendon to claim their first premiership in 2001. And when they repeated the dose as favorites against Collingwood in 2002.

Outside, a bright dawn had given way to a heavy and prolonged storm. It was going to be another typical Melbourne day for the grand final. Intermittent shows, wind, a little hail, and even occasional sunshine. A mixture of the hot of 2001 and the cold and wet of 2002.

Inside the doors of the Parkview Hotel a storm of an altogether different type was building as the Lions rounded off preparations for a classic rematch with Collingwood albeit under totally different circumstances.

While 12 months ago everything had gone smoothly inside the camp, this year there were problems galore that were kept from the outside. On top of Voss’ bad knee Lynch a bad thigh and Clark Keating, Chris Johnson and Justin Leppitsch each had bad shoulders. Martin Pike had a bad hamstring, Darryl White bad ribs, and Craig McRae and Blake Caracella had a bad wrist.

All were always going to play, but with Lappin there was still plenty to be done, beginning with a visit to The Avenue Hospital in nearby Prahran. As his teammates readied themselves privately for the greatest challenge of their three-year reign, Lappin was dressed and ready to go. Forty-five minutes ahead of the team’s departure he joined team medico Dr Andrew Smith and anaesthetic consultant Dr Brendan Moore in a quick taxi ride to the hospital. There, under an X-ray machine, Dr Moore administered an inter-costal block, effectively numbing the nerve and easing the pain of his ribs. It was the third time in six days Dr Moore, a recognized pain specialist, had performed the same procedure. And they still didn’t know whether it would be enough.

The Saturday morning procedure went according to plan. The Lions had a car on standby in case there was delay, but Lappin made it back to the hotel in time to catch the team bus. It was a good thing. He was part of the group. A settler. But still he wasn’t sure.

At 1.15pm when the Lions stepped onto the MCG for their customary pre-match warm-up there were 22 players. Lappin was there. So, too, Scott. But Voss was missing? This set off a media storm. Had the Lappin intrigue camouflaged another big problem? Not at all. This was Voss’ routine. His way of carrying his own serious knee problem.

But still they didn’t know. The teamsheet had been prepared with the team as named. Aaron Shattock and Tim Notting, two of the emergencies, had been crossed out. Team Manager Barry Lowe was awaiting final instruction. Did he cross out Lappin? Or did he cross out Scott?

The on-field warm-up had created more questions than answers. Lappin’s pain was under control but he was having trouble breathing. “I felt pretty good. A bit sore bending down but not too bad. I kept saying it was more at the front in the chest, and it was really deep. As it turned out that was the pain from the lung. So we went back in and I had a couple more injections but it was still there. I was talking to Stants (physio Peter Stanton) and at that stage it was touch and go whether I should play.

“Pete got me to lift by hands over my head and he gave me a couple of short ones in the ribs. One of them just buckled me over and I was trying so hard not to show it. It must have got me in the perfect spot. Pete said ‘no, that’s it, you can’t play, they’re going to hit you a lot harder than that’. I said to him ‘well, my arms aren’t going to be up in the air much’ and I tried to talk Pete around. Pete went to Leigh and said ‘we’re not sure what we should do’.

“We went into the meeting room – Leigh (Matthews) was a bit upset because we were doing all these tests in front of the boys and he didn’t want the boys to see it. By this time Scotty was warming up and it was pretty hard on him, not knowing what was going on. It’s hard not to be selfish on a day like that because you want to play but I really felt for Scotty as well. I knew we had a good replacement and at that stage I thought well maybe I shouldn’t play.”

Matthews said in hindsight he couldn’t believe what was going on. “It was a grand final and 60seconds before we had to put the teamsheet in we didn’t know who was playing. Nigel looked like he was about to die. He didn’t exactly inspire confidence and I got close a couple of times to saying ‘bugger it – he’s out’. It was an incredibly tough situation for him. He’s a really team-oriented player and he had to be convinced that he could be of value. He didn’t want to go out there when he wasn’t right and let the team down.”

Matthews said to Lappin: ‘We’d love you to play but it’s up to you – what do you think?’ Lappin didn’t think. He just made a decision. “It was a spur of the moment thing – I said ‘I’m right’.” And with that Matthews walked out of the room. “I didn’t want to give him time to change his mind,” he said. He need not have worried. Lappin was OK. “From that moment I was fully focused on the game. It’s amazing what your mind can do when finally you’ve made that decision.”

So, Lappin played. He was ready just in time for Matthews’ final pre-game address and the customary and ever-motivating highlights tape, this time to “Power of the Dream” by Celine Dion from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics opening ceremony.

Matthews’ only concession to the injury was to switch the champion midfielder to half back where, ironically, he had won 2003 All-Australian selection. He assigned Shaun Hart an on-ball role after he had originally been set for Collingwood skipper Nathan Buckley and swung Robbie Copeland onto Buckley. “We had planned for ‘Bushy’ (Copeland) to take Buckley whenever he went forward and in the end we decided we were better off with him doing the job all over the ground.”

There was no consideration given to starting Lappin on the bench to protect his injury. “We didn’t want him stewing, wondering when he was going to get into the game and how he was going be,” Matthews explained. “So we decided to chuck him in the deep end. Or the middle of the pool, really. We expected him (Lappin) to get crunched from everywhere – that was always going to happen – and the only concession we made was to put him where he might have been tackled a little less often. He’s a very good half back flanker anyway.”

Slowly Chris Scott took off the grand final playing uniform he’d worn for fully two hours pre-game in hope. Ever the professional, a rare individual capable of coping with the uncertainty of such a last-minute decision, he’d prepared as if he was in. The realization that he was not hurt. It didn’t matter that, ironically, he was in better shape than he had been for several weeks. He wasn’t playing.

Instead, he spent the longest two and a half hours of his 10-year career in the coach’s box. Perhaps even longer than the two and half hours twin brother Brad spent alone at their Springfield home in Brisbane, watching the grand final he, too, missed after a broken leg in Round 22.

At about 5.40pm, trying to find a place to hide in the middle of the MCG, Chris Scott shed a private tear as the players received their premiership medallions. As much as countless dozens of people told him ‘you’re part of this’ he didn’t feel it. Nor did Brad. Nor did Beau McDonald, who had been a member of the 2001-02 grand final sides only to miss the last 12 weeks of the 2003 season with a knee problem. Nor Tim Notting, a dual premiership team member who had been overlooked at selection to make way for the return from injury of Marcus Ashcroft. And nor Aaron Shattock, who had picked up a 2002 medal only to come unstuck in Round 22.

The bookmakers had it line ball. They found it hard to split a battered and bruised Brisbane outfit from a Collingwood side which had enjoyed much the smoother preparation but had lost key forward Anthony Rocca to suspension in grand final week.

First through the grand final banner with Voss was Olivia Stray, whose mother and grandmother had been life-long Fitzroy volunteers and whose father had won the mascot role in a club raffle. A day she’ll never forget. She even featured in the on-ground team photograph after one of the players pulled her into the shot. With Queenslander and big Lions fan Christine Anu singing the national anthem, Voss, Akermanis, McRae and Darryl White sing along. Others, steely-eyed, prefer to glare straight ahead into the eyes and the hearts of their Collingwood opponents.

“Tails” calls the skipper. It’s a tail. The Lions, on the verge of immortality, will kick to the Punt Road end. Voss, almost written off as a lost cause for ’03 after the first final against Collingwood three weeks earlier, took his place in the starting line-up. For two weeks previous he’d tossed the coin and headed to the bench to ride a bike. Not today.

On the bench for the start of what would be his 318^th and last game was Ashcroft, who had missed the preliminary final. It was a remarkable feat that he was even fit. The 32-year-old had suffered a four-week knee injury just two weeks earlier, but such is the durability of one of the game’s most resilient players that he was ready. He wasn’t even one of the suspect ones. So with Lappin’s last-gasp ‘I’m right’ the inclusion of Ashcroft was the only change. Tim Notting missed out.

Ashcroft was joined on the bench by Blake Caracella, a 2000 premiership team member at Essendon, and grand final ‘rookies’ Jamie Charman and Richard Hadley. There were six changes from the 2002 grand final team. Charman, Hadley and McGrath have stepped up, Daniel Bradshaw and Copeland have won back their spots of 2001, and Caracella has been included. Missing were the injured Scott twins, McDonald, Notting and Shattock, and Des Headland, who for family reasons had chosen to return to Perth after the 2002 premiership.

Matthews, always preferring to worry more about his own troops than the opposition, stuck with his proven structure. Mal Michael and Justin Leppitsch in the key defensive posts, Clark Keating, Simon Black, Shaun Hart and Voss in the centre square, and Jonathan Brown and Lynch as the focal points up forward. Akermanis on the wing, with Luke Power replicating his 2002 grand final starting assignment in defence.

Keating, such a September specialist, thumped the ball forward at the first bounce. But not two seconds later Brown was felled by a high shot from Collingwood’s Scott Burns. The man many thought might be the Lions enforcer was ko’d. It was Geelong’s Mark Yeats charging off the line to hit Hawthorn’s Dermott Brereton in the 1989 grand final all over again. Slowly, Brown got up. He wasn’t right but he was up. Slowly he worked into the game. An important moment in the overall contest. A statement. Strong and hard. Just like the man already anointed by Voss as the next Lions captain.

The Lions led 5-5 to 3-3 at quarter time and after Lynch goaled twice in two minutes from two of the most telling play sequences of the game they were six goals up. When Black added another they’d piled on 6-1 to 1-4 in the second quarter and were 42 points clear at the long break.

It was still 35 points to the visitors at three-quarter time. They had one hand on the cup. Akermanis kicked the all-important first goal of the final term, and when Lynch jagged his fourth at the 15-minute mark it was over.

An avalanche followed. Brown, Akermanis, Hart and Brown. It was out to 69 points and already the Lions players were celebrating. McRae, official organizer of end-of-season festivities, was heard to say ‘how good is Mad Monday going to be?’ Shortly after he added: “And how good is Vegas going to be?” in reference to their long-planned end-of-season trip to the United States.

The clock showed 26min17sec gone. The premiership was decided. But still there was one more surprise for Lappin. “I couldn’t believe it,” said the reluctant hero. “There were five minutes to go and I got the call to go and tag Buckley. I thought to myself ‘We’re 10 goals up – why do we have to put someone on him? I’m not going to be able to run with Buckley.’ But I did my best. It wasn’t too good but the game was over. It was a very weird one but you always try and do what the coach says, so … ”

He did that, and more after Collingwood kicked three inconsequential goals. Back in the middle, after teammate White ran over the top of a loose ball at the back edge of the square, Lappin dived full length at the feet of Shane O’Bree, and was quickly pounced upon by three Collingwood players. You could almost hear Dr Andrew Smith scream ‘why?’ from the bench moments before the final siren at 20-14 (134) to 12-12 (84).

Black received the 2003 Norm Smith Medal from St.Kilda champion Darrel Baldock. Polling the maximum 15 votes to beat Keating (7), Akermanis (6) and Michael (2), he followed James Hird and Greg Williams to be just the third player in history to win a Brownlow Medal, a Norm Smith Medal and a premiership medal. Who else could it have been? The 24-year-old midfielder had a career-best 39 possessions - 16 kicks and 23 handballs – the most on the last day in September since records have been kept. Plus 23 gathers, nine clearances, seven inside 50s, nine effective tackles and a goal in arguably the most dominant grand final performance of the modern era. He had 34 possessions after quarter time. Superb.

One by one the players received their premiership medallions from Auskick participants wearing the corresponding Lions jumper number. Justin Leppitsch even gave his grand final glove to the red-headed boy in No.23. Pike collected his fourth premiership medal and promptly celebrated with a four-fingered salute. For 15 others it was their third. For Copeland, Bradshaw and Caracella their second. And for Charman, McGrath and Hadley a first-time moment they would never forget.

Lappin, No.44, was the last player up before Voss and Matthews received the Cup. There is no outward show of emotion, but inwardly he was just about the most relieved man at the MCG. “It was far from my best game but I was just glad I was able to contribute a little bit,” he said, forever humble and ignoring the fact that his was one of the great grand final stories of all time.

Matthews received the Jock McHale Medal from Charlie Sutton, captain-coach of Footscray’s only premiership side in 1954. Then it was time for presentation of the Cup to Matthews and Voss by Elsie Shaw, widow of former Collingwood champion Bob Rose, who had died in July.

For the third time in as many years Voss treasured the moment all AFL captains dream of. Speaking from the heart, he revealed an extra special mid-season plea from the coach not just to his players but to those behind the players. Says the proud skipper: “This group is quite an amazing group. They showed true grit and courage throughout the year. We’ve probably been written off at many stages and they just kept believing. About eight months ago Leigh (Matthews) spoke to us, and the wives and girlfriends, and asked for an extra commitment. So we’d like to thank the wives and girlfriends for making that commitment. I know my wife has made a huge commitment… thank you, because we can’t do it without you.”

“Our supporters…,” he continued, raising two hands skyward. “How good are you guys? The staff, board, everybody has been magnificent… so many people we’d love to thank. But I do want to leave you with one thing… you little beauty!”

Walls continued his lavish praise of the triple premiers on a telecast that had taken the class of the Brisbane Lions world-wide. “What they showed is how mentally tough they are,” he says. “They proved a lot of people wrong. I thought they would really struggle today but mentally they are as tough as they come. And I guess when you’ve got a leader like Voss you don’t want to let anyone down. He sets the standard and the rest follow.”

The lap of honour, as it did in 2001 and 2002, lasted almost an hour. First the players went to their wives and girlfriends, who had clustered near the race. Then, slowly, as if wanting to make it last forever, they circumnavigated the MCG. Sharing the Cup around and slapping hands with the fans. 

Ashcroft knew it was his last. He’d actually whispered as much to conditioning coach and runner Craig Starcevich pre-game. “My last warm-up,” he said. No fuss or fanfare. Typical of the record-breaking Queenslander. He preferred efficiency and execution to glitz and glamour. A perfect exit for a player who two years earlier had ended the longest wait in AFL history for a premiership – 268 games. Now he and teammates Shaun Hart and Chris Johnson had become the only players among 11,296 to play at the highest level to win three flags and three wooden-spoons.

The Lions’ remarkable triumph presented some new lines for the AFL record books.

Brown, who had played all but two minutes of the entire finals series with a broken hand, had become the game’s sixth-youngest triple premiership player and the youngest in 46 years. He was 32 days short of his 22^nd birthday, 21 years 33 days old, and yet he had been a key leadership figure in the grand final for the manner in which he withstood the early battering and returned to make an important contribution.

Collingwood’s Alex Collier was the game’s youngest triple premiership player at 20 years 81 days in 1929, followed by Carlton’s Alex Lang (20 years 198 days in 1908), Collingwood’s Len Murphy (20 years 322 days in 1930), Melbourne’s Ron Barassi (21 years 206 days) and Don Williams (21 years 322 days) in 1957. Brown is next youngest ahead of Collingwood’s Harry Collier, who, at 21 years 362 days in 1929, is the only other player to have tasted a premiership hat-trick before his 22^nd birthday.

Voss became just the sixth triple premiership captain, equal with Melbourne’s Allan La Fontaine (1939-40-41) and Carlton’s John Nicholls (1968-70-72), and behind Collingwood’s Syd Coventry (1927-28-29-30), Essendon’s Dick Reynolds (1942-46-49-50) and Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck (1986-88-89-91).

Lynch, the oldest player in the 2003 AFL, became at 35 years and 100 days the fourth-oldest person to win a premiership behind Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck (38 years 95 days in 1991 and 36 years 98 days in 1989), Essendon’s Charlie Hardy (37 years 178 days in 1924 and 36 years 202 days in 1923) and Collingwood’s Les Hughes (35 years 178 days in 1919).

Lynch, too, had jumped to No.6 on the list of all-time finals goal-kickers. His 16 majors in September for the second year in row gave him a career-best 78 for the year and a career finals tally of 64. This took him past Peter McKenna (50), Dick Reynolds (51), Harry Vallence and Dermott Brereton (53), Ron Todd (55), Wayne Carey and Bill Brownless (60), Peter Sumich, Jack Mueller, Dick Lee and Kevin Bartlett (62), and saw him pull level with Doug Wade and Gary Ablett. Only Gordon Coventry (112), Jason Dunstall (78), Jack Titus (74), Leigh Matthews (72) and Stephen Kernahan (65) remain ahead of him.

Caracella had become the 21^st player to share premiership wins with two clubs, and Martin Pike just the 59^th player to win four or more premierships.

Hadley, who had played in the Lions’ 2001 Ansett Cup grand final loss to Port Adelaide aged 17, had tasted the ultimate football glory in just his fourth game at the highest level. And that after a wait of two and a half years and 70 matches between his debut in Round 3, 2001, and his second game at the start of the 2003 finals. Only four players had played in fewer games to a premiership - Richmond’s Bill James (1 game in 1920), Essendon’s Dave Ferguson (2 games in 1897), Collingwood’s Charles Ahern (3 games in 1929) and Adelaide’s Aaron Keating, brother of Clark (3 games in 1997).

And Matthews? He just kept re-writing the record books. The first coach to win four premierships from his first four grand final outings, and now the football person with the longest period between flags – 32 years – after the first of four flags as a player came at Hawthorn in 1971.

So the celebrations began. Lynch came well prepared. No sooner had he completed the victory lap than he pulled out his 2001 and 2002 premiership medals. A picture opportunity if ever there was one. It would have been the perfect end for one of the game’s greats had he decided 16 years, 293 games and 593 goals was enough. He didn’t.

Copeland, too, was prepared. Having missed grand final selection in 2002, he had within easy reach a construction workers helmet of Village People fame that he’d worn after the 2001 triumph. A few extra autographs from his teammates and it was complete. A special moment. Perhaps one he remembered eight weeks later when he rejected a more lucrative three-year offer from Richmond to re-commit to the 2004 Lions. He was part of a special bond that money couldn’t break.

McGrath, the surprise first-round draft pick of 2000 who had come of age during the 2003 finals, sent the first of countless text messages via his mobile phone to Perth. The recipient? Lions 2002 premiership team member turned Fremantle defector Headland. McGrath had used Headland’s example of 12 months earlier as an inspiration and thanked him with a string of messages that went something like ‘good decision’ and ‘thanks for giving me the chance’.

Lappin sat quietly. Never one to go too much over the top, he savored the heart-felt congratulations of those who mattered most. His teammates. And his family and friends. His Mum and Dad, Jock and Pauline, left early. Typical country folk keen to get home. As Lappin removed the protective guard he revealed a delicate piece of artwork in which the outline of his rib cage had been perfectly drawn in ink on his skin. Why? It was there for the scheduled half-time pain-killing top-up. Working without the aid of an X-ray machine, Dr Brendan Moore would know precisely where the needles needed to go. Happily, it wasn’t necessary. Dr Moore, an AFL outsider who had sat so proudly on the Lions bench at his first AFL game, was able to catch his 7.15pm flight home to Brisbane knowing his job was done. He even enjoyed the drive to Tullamarine with support staff member Alex Gardner, who had become something of a specialist grand final ‘taxi driver’. Twelve months earlier Gardner had taken Beau McDonald to hospital after his grand final shoulder dislocation.

Celebrating the spoils of victory, Matthews joked how the Lions almost needed one bus for the medical stuff and another for the players. There was one doctor for Michael Voss, Jim Fardoulys, one doctor for Nigel Lappin, Brendan Moore, and regular pair Andrew Smith and Paul McConnell were responsible for everyone else. Plus physiotherapists Victor Popov and Peter Stanton.

But there was no joking when Matthews told post-game of the willingness of his troops to defy pain and put themselves on the line for the team cause. Normally, said Matthews, their medical staff might need two vials of marcaine, a standard pain-killing formula. Most they’d ever used in one game previously was four. On grand final day 2003 they used 18.

The Lions had gone to enormous extremes at the instigation of a medical and conditioning team they regarded as second to none in Australian sport. Like having the charter flight from Brisbane travel at 18,000 feet above sea level instead of the 30,000 feet-plus of standard commercial flights to minimize cabin air pressure and the draining effect on the players. Said Matthews, it was all about doing everything possible to give the players every chance to perform at their best, and that extra 0.01% which might make the difference.

But there was still more drama to come. Voss, sitting alongside wife Donna in the crowded rooms about 90 minutes after the final siren, collapsed from dehydration and exhaustion. He was quickly ushered into the medical room and after a lightning search for medical staff he was put on a saline drip. Twenty minutes later he re-emerged in much better shape.

It was a moment nobody wanted to end. Surrounded by people closest to them, the team cherished the absolute satisfaction of it all, and the delight of doing what so many had branded impossible. Hugs and handshakes. Kisses and cuddles. It was a very special time for a very special team. Almost an unreal feeling. For the third year in a row the premiership cup did the photographic rounds, starting with the now obligatory shower with the players. Even Matthews, cup in hand, was cajoled to offer a three-finger salute for the cameras to signify the historic three-peat. Players, support staff, friends and family did likewise. Nobody, it seemed, had grown tired of the thrill of a special premiership memento.

Eventually, the players made their way onto the team bus. Back to the hotel to drop off their gear and then to Colonial Stadium, where the grassroots Lions fans were waiting. And then on to the Convention Centre for the traditional grand final dinner. Interviews, autographs and photographs. They didn’t care. It could have gone on all night. It did. Even the Sita bus was signed by the team for Billy Elms, a lifelong Fitzroy man and the club’s lucky charm bus driver who was now three for three in grand finals.

At the grand final celebration Matthews told the fans at both functions how he felt both lucky and humble to be involved with this particular Lions team, and what an honour it was to be their coach. “What they’ve done defies logic. Their heart, their will to win, and their ability to live for the present. To prepare the way they do, and to play second by second, is just phenomenal. I’m in awe of them and you should be too,” he said. A massive statement from the player of the century, but with a justification that echoed throughout the football world.

Lappin started to get pretty sore as the night wore on. When the euphoria of it all died down, and he started to finally unwind. Not even a few scotches could help ease the pain of a man who is allergic to beer. “We got home about three or four and I couldn’t sleep again. I couldn’t breath. About four or five I rang the doc’s room and he said ‘great timing – I’ve just walked in’. I told him I was having trouble breathing and he said ‘I’ve had a few – I don’t really want to treat you now. If you have punctured your lung it could collapse and you’ll know all about it. Ring me then. But otherwise you’ll be OK till the morning and we’ll get an X-ray and get it properly checked out,” Lappin recalled with a laugh.

On the Sunday morning at Brunswick Street about 12,000 people, the biggest of the three premiership crowds, awaited the players for one last time in 2003. Then it was back on the charter flight home and straight to the Gabba to meet the Brisbane fans. All except Lappin, who had been banned from flying after an early morning hospital visit had confirmed his punctured lung. “I missed Mad Monday which was sad – I really enjoy that day. I don’t get too drunk but watching everyone else is quite fun. The young blokes come out of their shell that day. And I was back for the ticker-tape parade on the Tuesday. Everything was feeling a lot better by then. It had been more than a week since I’d hurt the ribs by then, and lungs heal pretty quickly. It was sore to breath for a couple of weeks but nothing too terrible.”

What a turnaround it had been. The club had won more games in the three years of 2001-02-03 (57) than they had in their first nine years (55). Their success rate, a paltry 28% from 1987-95, had skyrocketed to 75% from 2001-03. In five years under Leigh Matthews the Lions had won 88 of 125 games at 70%. And they’d posted 34 ‘away’ wins under Matthews after a combined 25 interstate triumphs under six coaches over 12 years before him. It was a staggering strike-rate over an extended period in a competition of such equalization processes as the draft and salary cap.

The live television audience in south-east Queensland for the 2003 AFL grand final was 716,000 – up a staggering 191,000 on the same game in 2002. The NRL grand final, shown in prime time on a Sunday night, pulled only 638,000. Another first-time ‘win’ for the AFL.

Overall, the AFL grand final ranked No.4 in aggregate national 2003 television audiences behind The Block, Australian Idol and the Rugby World Cup final, and was No.1 in day-time viewing. It was the most watched AFL grand final ever in Brisbane, and the No.2 AFL grand final all-time nationally, with an audience of 3.5million. Only the 1996 decider between North Melbourne and Sydney had pulled more viewers.

On the Wednesday after the grand final Leigh Matthews addressed the Premiers Lunch for key sponsors and supporters at Brisbane’s exclusive Tattersalls Club. Still savoring the moment, he allowed himself a little reminiscing.

“As I stand here today, with the premiership only a few days old, I think of when I came to Queensland five years ago. I’d never lived outside the southern suburbs of Melbourne. It was a great adventure to be asked and to go to another part of Australia,” he said.

“I’ve always believed pride, respect and trust are qualities that are really important in a group environment, and so one of things I did initially every time I went out into the public domain to speak or be at a function I made a commitment to always wear our club uniform. Sometimes you’ve got to exhibit the pride even before you feel it, I guess, and it’s nice to stand here five years later and for all of us to feel genuine pride in our Brisbane Lions team and the uniform we wear. It’s about this time you say to yourself ‘success is a journey – not a destination’.

“It’s been a short 12 months since I stood here this time last year. And what we’ve had for 24 months now is the pressure of being premiers. That pressure is something we put on ourselves. It’s not something that can be put on from outside. External pressure on football teams and football clubs is the most over-rated thing. It’s almost a media fabrication. The pressure comes from your own expectations, your own self-esteem, your own standards that you expect from each other. And what happens when you win a premiership is that you commit yourself that the only way you can be satisfied at the end of the following 12 months is to win it again … and that’s bloody hard to do. The ability of this team for 24 months to handle the pressure of being premiers and not to allowing that to effect the way it went about its job is one of the most remarkable and memorable factors of this particular group of people.

“And when we say a group of people we exist to put our football team on the field – that is the figurehead of any football club. But the environment that is created from within the football club from the Board and the CEO and the finance and the marketing and all the areas of the club before we even get to the football department, which is the medical staff, conditioning staff, the coaching staff and all the people who are more hands-on with the players. Unless all the areas of that football club are operating efficiently then the whole deck of cards tends to fall over. So the way this club has thrived off the field has been something that is a cause for great pride for us all. It has created the environment for the football and playing part of our club to have the consistency of attitude, preparation and performance.”

There was barely a whisper around the room as Matthews went on. Further proof of how the one-time Hawthorn player and Collingwood coach has captured so totally the respect and admiration of Queenslanders.

“Why did we win? We won because this group of players was able to focus in on what they had to do,” said Matthews, admitting even he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of his team’s performance. But he stopped and corrected himself. “Surprised is probably the wrong word because this group of people have surprised me quite regularly. But I’ve got to say in the previous couple of years they were like robots - you wind them up and put them out on the ground and they went and played. But this year a few issues hit us. The footy gods didn’t seem to be smiling on us the last two months. We had a lot of issues and it was the perseverance of the medical staff and people around the club to keep exploring means and methods, and to not just accept that may be the case. Then there was the courage of a lot of players to put themselves on the line when they were not certain about their physical condition. It was quite remarkable. Very rarely do you defy the footy gods, but this group has done exactly that.”

A veteran of 11 grand finals as a player and coach spread over five decades, Matthews offered a further insight into his psyche when he revealed he didn’t enjoy grand final day. Never has as a coach, and never will. “Obviously I don’t play any more so I just suffer like the fans do. The players are the least nervous of anybody because they go out and do it. The rest of us have to depend on their actions for our emotional nourishment. I was sitting in the hotel about 11 o’clock on grand final morning just waiting to go down to the bus to the game and thinking ‘I wish I could find that time capsule’ because I don’t want it to be 11 o’clock – I want it to be six o’clock tonight’. I wasn’t enjoying it at all, and I knew I wouldn’t enjoy the day because I don’t enjoy a game of footy until I know we’ve won. And for a conservative bugger like me that’s about five minutes from the end when we’re 10 goals in front. Then, when you get to the end and we’ve won it, well, that’s just fantastic. We wish that life could stand still.”

Yet for all the pressure and the anguish, Matthews wouldn’t have it any other way. For the opposite of pressure, he says, is boredom. And that’s worse. So he lives with the pressure. And he lives by a personal football creed which is all about handling pressure. Written by former US General George Patton when he sent his troops off to war, it says simply: “Accept the challenge without reservation or doubt, risk the depression of losing, so that you may experience the exhilaration of victory!”

Ironically, these few succinct words were sent to Matthews by a Collingwood supporter as a motivational tool in grand final week of 1990. He used them then as he masterminded a victory that saw the Magpies’ end a 32-year premiership drought and put the ‘Colliewobbles’ to bed. And he had used them ever since. Often. And again prior to the 2003 grand final against Collingwood. “The bigger the challenge the bigger the exhilaration and the bigger the potential depression should you fail,” he said. “That’s why grand final day is such a cruel day because in three hours exhilaration is the correct word for the winners and depression is the correct word for the losers. If you don’t accept the challenge, and if you’re not prepared to accept the depression, you cannot experience the exhilaration.”

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, a three-times winner for three trips to AFL grand final day, certainly enjoyed the exhilaration. He hosted the Premiers Lunch and was lavish in his praise. “It doesn’t matter where you go, or who you talk to, the professionalism of the Lions is something the club should be very proud of. It doesn’t matter whether it is (chairman) Graeme Downie, Leigh Matthews or the players, they carry themselves with great dignity and are able to be great sportsmen. And you don’t always see that. Last year after Collingwood lost I thought they behaved in an unsportsmanlike way. They left the ground too quickly. I’ve never seen any of the Lions do that. And yesterday, when Michael Voss was addressing the crowd after the tickertape parade, he was asked about Nathan (Buckley) and he was very diplomatic. He said what a great player he was and isn’t it a credit that the captain of the Lions can actually say something pleasant about the losing captain. It says a lot about the professionalism of this club, and that’s why you’ve increased in popularity and that’s why many people who’ve been league and union supporters are now at the AFL supporting you… because you’re a professional act!”

A most professional act, indeed. And a benchmark for the toughest and most professional sporting competition in Australia, and one of the best in the world. How times had changed.

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