It meant ‘take the game on … have some fun... you’ve got nothing to lose.’ And they did

They won nine games in a row to get to second on the ladder but lost two of their last three to finish 5^th and go into the finals facing sudden-death. The ice was thin. As thin as could be. There were no second chances.

After a 20-point qualifying final Gabba win over Carlton the Lions faced a Sydney Showgrounds semi-final against the GWS Giants, and when they were 44 points down late in the third quarter the ice was starting to crack. One more Giants goal and they were done.

They came back from the dead not once but twice to claim the second-biggest finals comeback win in AFL history.

With Will Ashcroft taking charge in the middle, they kicked five goals in nine minute… Kai Lohmann a cheeky goal from the pocket, Oscar McInerney a 30m snap out of the ruck, and a mid-air volley from Charlie Cameron on the goal line for his 400^th.

Zac Bailey crumbed one, did a 360-degree turn and a snapped brilliantly across his body from 30m and Dayne Zorko converted a 20m angled free kick. It was back to 13 points. Game on.

But the Giants kicked the last two goals of the third quarter and the first of the last. Suddenly it was 31 points. The ice was looking thin again. Nothing to lose. Again.

Eric Hipwood snapped truly on his non-preferred right, a Callum Ah Chee handpass set up Cameron in the square and Zorko, playing half back, soccered one off the ground for his second. Out of the centre Hugh McCluggage sent Jaspa Fletcher running to 50m for a long bomb and it was back to eight points.

An ice-cool Joe Daniher converted an ‘insufficient intent’ free kick against Sam Taylor from 50m outside the boundary line to cut it to one point, and moments later he out-marked Taylor and slotted it from a 30m on a 45-degree angle. Brisbane were in front.

Expertly drilled, they went into shut-down mode, forcing four consecutive ball-ups. And when the siren sounded Channel Seven’s Alastair Nicholson declared:  “They are lion hearts... Brisbane have done the unthinkable.”

Post-game an emotional Fagan said: “It’s a day I’ll never forget... to see all the family and friends in the rooms after one of the great comeback wins... when everything looked lost we hung in and found a way... as we’ve done all year. The character on display tonight summed up our entire season.”

Indeed it did. And when the Lions beat Geelong by 10 points at the MCG the following week and thumped Sydney by 10 goals at the MCG in the grand final the job was done. Cruelly denied a flag 12 months earlier, they had completed the first 27-game season for one of the great premierships in history and the club’s first since the 2001-02-03 hat-trick.

Simply magnificent.