Over 34 years, 751 games and 314 wins in Brisbane Football Club history one win will always be extra special. The first home win. It was Round 5 1987 against Melbourne at Carrara.
As the Footy Flashback series continues, focussing this week on the history with original Round 14 opponents Melbourne, we focus on a momentous occasion officially watched by 7451 people but remembered fondly by many thousands more.
After playing their first three games interstate the Brisbane Bears had played their first home game in Round 4 against, ironically, Fitzroy. Doug Barwick and Richard Osborne kicked seven goals apiece for the victors and Keith Thomas, now CEO at Port Adelaide, made his AFL debut.
In Round 5 they were to host a Melbourne side coached by John Northey which sat sixth on the 14-team ladder with a 2-2 record, having beaten Fitzroy in Round 1 and Richmond in Round 4. They were to be led by vice-captain Greg Healy in the absence of injured first-choice captain Robert Flower.
In the Melbourne side was an 18-year-old Gerard Healy in his 17th game, a 19-year-old Garry Lyon in his 23rd game, a 21-year-old Todd Viney in his fifth game, and 30-year-old dual Brownlow Medallist Peter Moore in his 246th and fourth-last game.
But it was a day remembered best for the exploits of unknown Queenslander Tony Beckett.
Technically speaking, Gary Shaw, who had played in the Round 2 win over Geelong, and Frank Dunell, who debuted for the Bears in the Round 3 loss to StKilda, had been the first Queenslanders to play for the Bears.
But Beckett, a 26-year-old Mayne wingman and QAFL development officer, was the first to step straight out of the local competition into the elite ranks.
It was a fairytale. Beckett was plucked from outside the official 40-man Bears playing list after Robert Mace, recruited by the expansion club from Hawthorn and StKilda, had undergone Achilles surgery mid-week and was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Beckett’s historic selection was an almost spooky repeat of circumstances in which four years earlier he had been chosen from outside a 45-man State squad for the first of 14 matches for Queensland.
Eighteen months earlier he had undergone a knee reconstruction which restricted him to just eight QAFL games in 1986 and even before Christmas 1986 he’d required further clean-up surgery before he could join full Bears training.
He had not even been among 43 different players chosen for five senior practice matches and five days before what would be his AFL debut his football focus was entirely elsewhere. He had been named vice-captain of a Queensland side set to play Tasmania in Hobart.
Instead of running around in Hobart Beckett, wearing jumper #41, found himself starting on the interchange bench at Carrara before coach Peter Knights threw him into an unfamiliar role at half forward in a game in which the Bears had been as many as 28 points down in the first quarter.
Beckett, a blisteringly quick left-footer, had an immediate impact as the home side worked their way back into the game. It was five points to Melbourne at halftime and three points at three-quarter time.
In a thrilling final quarter Beckett’s first goal put the Bears in front for the first time in the first minute. It came from a difficult 45m set shot after he’d run down Steven Stretch from behind in a brilliant diving tackle to earn a free kick. Later, Beckett found Peter Banfield with a neat pass for the clinching goal after the lead had changed hands five times in 25 minutes.
The stats sheet showed Beckett and 17 kicks, six marks and 19 possessions in little more than a half of football, with each involvement prompting a loud reaction from Beckett’s private Mayne cheersquad.
Phil Walsh led the Brisbane possession count with 30 and Jim Edmond was the leading goal-kicker with three, while the Brownlow Medal votes went to Steve Reynoldson, Mark Williams and Brenton Phillips.
The Bears went on to finish 13th on the ladder with a 6-16 record while Melbourne grabbed the fifth and last finals spot at 12-10 and won two finals against North Melbourne and Sydney before losing to Hawthorn in the preliminary final.
A REAL HOME
During six years based at Carrara from 1987-92 the Bears had played four games at the Gabba in 1991 as test cases for a possible move to Brisbane. But it wasn’t until Round 3 1993 they played their first real home game at the Gabba.
It was Easter Sunday, 11 April. The opening of a revamped Clem Jones Stand, a new Western Hill Stand and a new Social Club. And it was a thriller.
The home side, which included 17-year-olds Michael Voss, Justin Leppitsch and Nathan Chapman and a 20-year-old Nathan Buckley, led by 11 points at quarter-time, 26 points at halftime and 47 points 10 minutes into the third quarter but conceded 9-6 to 0-0 in 20 minutes.
They were 17 points down at three-quarter time. Down but not out.
Four minutes into the final quarter Ashley Green took a shot at goal from just inside the centre square. He hit a torpedo sweetly and it sailed fully 60m through for a goal. A chant went up. “Bris-bane, Bris-bane”.
The fans, all 12,821 of them, gave Demons ruckman Jim Stynes an awful time as he lined up a 30m shot at goal. Even more when he kicked the ball out on the full. The Bears rallied brilliantly and Roger Merrett’s six goal eight minutes from full-time got them home 17-13 (115) to 17-11 (113),
The following day The Courier-Mail ran a page one picture of Adrian Fletcher grabbing a mark. And on the front of the sports lift-out was another picture of Richard Champion, with a double-page spread inside. It was another first.
Fletcher, who had had 23 possessions and kicked a goal, later earned three Brownlow Medal votes and makeshift ruckman Matthew Kennedy, with 18 possessions and 14 hit-outs, picked up one vote. Dion Scott, ex-Swan, made his Bears debut.
Sadly, before the first ‘real’ game at the Gabba, another chapter in club history had closed when Matthew Campbell was injured at training.
The last member of the original 1987 Bears still playing with the club, Campbell was South Australian State of Origin regular and had played 79 AFL games, including three of the Gabba games in 1991. But but he would not play at the elite level again.
INTO THE FINALS
Brisbane went into the final round of the 1995 home-and-away season 10th on the ladder with a 9-12 record. Enjoying a golden run late in the season under coach Robert Walls, who had already announced his intention to retire at the end of the season, they were level on points with eighth-placed Melbourne and ninth-placed Collingwood. But still they faced a huge task to sneak into the finals for the first time.
It all came down to the first Friday night game at the Gabba as the Bears hosted Melbourne after having done likewise six nights earlier against Essendon in the first night game at the Gabba.
Melbourne, coached by Neil Balme travelled north with an advantage of 4.2 percent over Collingwood knowing that, barring a huge percentage swing, a win over the Bears would get them into the finals.
But the Bears led narrowly at each change and kicked 4-8 to 2-1 in the fourth quarter to win 16-14 (110) to 13-11 (89). Voss was best afield with 28 possessions and three goals as the home side crashed Melbourne’s twin Irish celebration of Jim Stynes’ 200th game and Shaun Wight’s 150th.
It was a special night, too, for Melbourne’s Shaun Smith. He took what is often labelled the 'Mark of the Century' – a chest mark on shoulders of captain Garry Lyon in the goalsquare down in front of the old Gabba scoreboard and the ‘hill’.
When Sydney beat Collingwood the following day the Bears found themselves in the finals for the first time, ultimately going down to eventual premiers Carlton at the MCG in what was to be easily the closest game of Carlton’s premiership campaign.
NINE FOR BRADSHAW
Daniel Bradshaw kicked a then club record nine goals as the Brisbane Lions beat Melbourne by 74 points in Round 14 2005, surpassing the eight-goal that had been reached 13 times previously.
He kicked five goals in the first quarter before going past a club record shared at the time by Jim Edmond (1987), Warwick Capper (1988), Brad Hardie (1989), Roger Merrett (1990, 1993), John Hutton (1992 twice), Rod Owen (1992), Michael Murphy (1993), Alastair Lynch (1994, 2001, 2003) and Jonathan Brown (2005).
But still Bradshaw had to be content with two Brownlow Medal votes. The three votes went to Jason Akermanis, who had 27 possessions and kicked five goals to earn a perfect ‘5’ in voting for the Merrett/Murray Medal. Michael Voss had 34 possessions for one vote.Lio
