Having reached our bye round it seems an appropriate time to reach out and update you on things happening around the club.
Ross Thornton
Unfortunately, one of our longest serving Board members, Ross Thornton, passed away on Anzac Day following a battle with cancer. Ross had been a member of our Board since 2014 and provided a key connection with our Fitzroy history and Victorian members. Ross was a Best and Fairest winner at Fitzroy, having played 146 games for the club and was a member of the clubs VFL Reserves Premiership team.
Ross was a great servant of our club and leaves a strong legacy. We paid tribute to Ross at the QClash where Ross’s wife Denise and children Jess, Taryn and Cal and their families were able to join us. Ross would have enjoyed seeing the grit our team showed that night.
Ross’s passing follows the loss to leukemia of Nicole Duncan, our long serving Football Administration Manager, in January this year. Having two such important and much loved figures within our club pass away in the first six months of the year has been tough. It certainly puts many of our day to day battles in perspective.
AFL
It hasn’t been the start to the year we had all hoped for. While we have shown patches of the form we displayed last year, there have also been times where our form has been disappointing.
This has been compounded by a series of injuries. Having already lost Will Ashcroft to a serious knee injury late last season, we also lost Keidean Coleman, Tom Doedee, Linc McCarthy and Darcy Gardiner to ACL injuries and Zac Bailey missed several weeks with an ankle injury.
In the short term there is no doubt the level of injuries we have is impacting on our performances, albeit we accept that is not the only factor and is not an excuse for some of the form lapses we have had. However, the silver lining for the long term is the opportunities these injuries have created for other players. We have seen Shadeau Brain, Logan Morris and Bruce Reville all make impressive debuts. Young players like Harry Sharp and Kai Lohmann are now getting more opportunities and you can see them benefit from it. While we continue to push for success now, it does give cause for optimism that we can remain competitive for some time yet.
The unfortunate reality is our start to the season leaves little margin for error in the rest of the season as we strive to play finals.
In our eight games since Round 3 we have won 4, lost 3 and drawn 1. Our wins against Melbourne and Gold Coast, in particular, were full of merit. If we can build on that form for the second half of the year it may well be good enough to get us into finals and that gives us the opportunity again to push as far as we can into September. We certainly haven’t put up the white flag for this year and there is a challenge now for the group to see if they are able to fight their way back into contention.
We have some great games to get along to at the Gabba in the second half of the year, including games against Melbourne, Sydney and Essendon. The games against Adelaide, Sydney and GWS are all afternoon or twilight games which will be an opportunity for more families and our younger fans to get along to the Gabba.
On Wednesday night, the Lions welcomed a trio of new talent through the 2024 Mid-Season Rookie Draft. Using three of its four picks, our recruiters opted for versatility with hybrid forward Will McLachlan, rebound defender Luke Beecken and small forward Darcy Craven selected.
AFLW
The AFLW squad returns to formal training on Monday. As we have come to expect, many of the squad have been into Brighton Homes Arena on a regular basis using the gym facilities, holding some informal training sessions and generally bringing their big energy to the club.
The good news is that virtually all of the squad retained from last year is now recontracted, including captain Bre Koenen, vice-captain Nat Grider and Orla O’Dwyer, who have all signed on until the end of the 2027 season. We welcome new players via the draft in Evie Long, Sophie Peters, Indiana Williams, Rania Crozier and Jacinta Baldwick. During the trade window we also added Shanae Davison and Eleanor Hartill from West Coast Eagles to our list.
In a great nod to the strength and depth of our program, a number of our delisted players from last season have found homes at other clubs and one of our assistant coaches, Daniel Webster, has taken up the AFLW head coach position at Hawthorn. We wish all of them well.
The AFLW fixture, released today, has six home games scheduled at Brighton Homes Arena against North, Collingwood, Bulldogs, Crows, SUNS and the Swans. Rd1 is scheduled for Sunday 1 September and we’re looking forward to seeing our supporters flock to BHA this season to support the defending Premiers.
VFL
A long injury list impacts the VFL team dramatically, as players push up from VFL to AFL to fill the vacancies. In that context, the fact the VFL team have won five of their eight games to date is particularly impressive, it’s a great credit to coach Ben Hudson and his staff. The fact so many debutants have been able to step up from the VFL side and perform well at AFL level demonstrates that Ben and his crew continue to develop a suite of players that are ‘AFL ready’. It has also been pleasing to see some really solid crowds getting to Brighton Homes Arena to support the VFL team.
Membership and Support
Notwithstanding that some of our early performances have no doubt tried your patience at times, we are very pleased with, and grateful for, the support we continue to receive from our fans. Four of the first five home games have been sold out and our membership continues to grow.
We currently have over 55,000 members, which is up from 45,000 at the same time last year and already a new record level of membership for us. With another six home games at the Gabba and the AFLW season commencing we will continue to push the 60,000 member goal we set at the start of the season.
Olympics and the Gabba
In December last year the State Government communicated to the Lions and Queensland Cricket that we would need to provide significant funding for the alternative venue required while the Gabba was redeveloped. This was an untenable position for us and inconsistent with the dialogue that had taken place to that point. Of course, that view was communicated strongly to Government.
Thankfully, things have moved along to the point where a plan that would see us displaced for four years or more, with only limited financial support, now seems to be off the table. However, the State Governments current position of a ‘renovation’ of the Gabba creates a significant risk that over the coming decade the Gabba will fall further behind equivalent stadiums around the country, both in terms of capacity and amenity.
With our ever-growing Membership and fan base, continued investment in grassroots AFL which will drive more kids to become Lions fans and continued population growth across SEQ, we do know that capacity will be one of our biggest challenges in the future.
Given the growth outlook for both Queensland and our game, in our view there is merit in investigating the viability of an alternate site. A new venue near public transport with sufficient capacity to service the growing needs of the City and the State’s events and tourism economy would be an important asset for a vibrant Brisbane and Queensland for decades to come.
However, we understand an alternative site is not the current preference of the State Government and respect that it is ultimately their decision to make. As long as a Gabba renovation remains their preferred option, we will continue to work closely with Government to ensure the investment in the Gabba provides the best outcome possible under that scenario.
Thank you
Once again, thank you to all of you for your support. The support we continue to enjoy both at the Gabba and the games we play around the country is much appreciated. Keep the faith, we will be doing everything we can to make the second half of the season a successful one and participate in the finals series with some momentum behind us.
Go Lions!
Andrew Wellington
Chairman
Brisbane Lions
