The Brisbane Lions are officially in unchartered territory 12 games into the 2025 AFL season.

And vice-captain Hugh McCluggage is officially a member of the club’s uber-elite ball-winners.

This follows the Lions’ 18-point Gabba win over Essendon, which gives them nine wins and a draw at the notional halfway mark of the 23-game home-and-away season.

They are half a game ahead of 9-3 record after 12 games in 2002 and 2004, the shortened Covid season of 2020 and 2022.

And with a career-high 41 possessions against the Bombers, McCluggage became just the eighth Brisbane player among 355 all-time to have 40 possessions in a game. And the 16th in the overall Lions ‘family’ since the inception of AFL possession statistics in 1965.

Lachie Neale sits clear at the top of Brisbane’s all-time great ball-winners. His eight games of 40-plus is a club high and his 51 possessions against Richmond at the MCG in 2019 is the single-game club record as McCluggage’s 41 jumps him to equal fourth on that list. Details are:

Lachie Neale – 51, 46, 43, 43, 42, 41, 40, 40
Tom Rockliff – 48, 47, 45, 45, 45, 43
Pearce Hanley – 45
Dayne Beams – 41, 40
Hugh McCluggage – 41
David Bain – 40, 40
Michael McLean - 40
Dayne Zorko – 40

Lions Hall of Fame Legend Garry Wilson has a similar dual place among Fitzroy records. His 45 against Collingwood at Waverley in 1978 was best for the original Lions, while his four games of 40-plus is a third of Fitzroy’s entire 40-plus games. Details are:

Garry Wilson – 45, 42, 42, 40
Brendan McCormack – 44
Simon Atkins – 43
John Murphy – 43
Paul Roos – 42
Graeme Allan – 42
Mathew Armstrong – 41, 41
Jason Baldwin - 40

With nine home-and-away games still to play this year, the Lions are in a position to challenge the club’s all-time home-and-away best of 17 wins in the 22-game seasons of 2001-02 and the 23-game season of 2023, which sit one game ahead of the 16 wins of 1999-2004-19.

Jarrod Berry’s 25 possessions against the Bombers also delivered a milestone for the 27-year-old – he became the 19th Brisbane player to 3000 possessions. It’s a mark that only 5.4% of the club’s players have reached.

The Lions, who were coming off a five-day break going into the game against Essendon after a six-day break into their Round 11 clash with Hawthorn at the MCG, will enjoy an eight-day preparation for their next outing against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Friday night, 6 June.