For the second time in a month the Brisbane Lions will take a battered pride to Victoria looking to kibosh an opposition hoodoo that has stood for more than 20 years.

In Round 11, coming off a Gabba loss to 15^th-placed Melbourne, they were equal to the task when they beat 4^th-placed Hawthorn at the MCG for the first time since 2004.

And in Round 15 on Friday night, coming off a Gabba loss to 7^th-placed GWS, they will be chasing their first win over 2^nd-placed Geelong in Geelong since 2003.

Not since 4 May 2003, in Round 6 of the year of the club’s third consecutive premiership, have the Lions beaten the Cats in Geelong. Kai Lohmann, born two days later, is one of 16 current Brisbane players who were not even born.

Among them are Will and Levi Ashcroft, whose father Marcus played his 299^th game in Brisbane’s last win in Geelong, when a side which included Geelong coach Chris Scott and key off-sider Nigel Lappin celebrated Lappin’s 200^th game with a come-from-behind 14 point win.

Lappin, now head of development at the Cats, collected three Brownlow Medal votes on a day which showed how much the game has changed, with 10 Lions playing 100% game time.

It’s a feat that has occurred only once in 14 Brisbane games this year, when Harris Andrews played 100% game time against Melbourne in Round 10.

Of the current Lions players, only ex-Geelong player Darcy Fort and Lachie Neale in his Fremantle days have won at the venue, and nine players who have appeared in the AFL this year have never played there.

It’s exactly the ‘now is the time’ scenario which will drive coach Chris Fagan and his troops as they take on a 13-game losing streak at the ‘Cattery’, which is longer and more narrow than most grounds in the AFL.

Fagan, who has taken the Lions there only three times for a 42-point loss in 2018, a one-point loss in 2021 and a 10-point loss in 2022, will draw confidence from the fact that they beat Geelong at the Gabba by nine points in Round 3 this year after a 10-point win over Geelong at the MCG in last year’s preliminary final.

Jaspa Fletcher will be among the Brisbane players to have their first taste of Kardinia Park on Friday night, 36 years on from his father Adrian’s AFL debut for Geelong against Brisbane. The 19-year-old Tasmanian, at the first of his four clubs, had 17 possessions in a record 129-point Cats win in Warwick Capper’s 100^th game a week before Marcus Ashcroft made his AFL debut.

It’s all part of a Brisbane history at Kardinia Park which has delivered a 7-1-18 record and began with arguably the greatest individual home-and-away performance by a Brisbane player.

In Round 2 1987, in the club’s second game, inaugural vice-captain Mark Williams had 30 possessions and kicked six goals in a 19-point win.

It’s the only time in club history a Brisbane player has posted a 30/6 double, with Jason Akermanis and Dayne Beams having had 30/5, while Beams, Michael Voss, Mark Withers, Tim Notting and Dayne Zorko (twice) have had a 30/4 double.

Williams’ outstanding performance, which went unrewarded in the Brownlow Medal as Matthew Campbell, Mike Richardson and Mark Mickan took the votes, came as Daryl Cox became the first ex-Fitzroy player to wear Brisbane colours.

It was Cox’ only game for the club and the last of his 30-game career, which included 16 games at Fitzroy and 13 games at Melbourne.

In other newsworthy Brisbane moments at Kardinia Park:

In Round 13 2004, when Geelong won by 27 points to begin their 13-game winning streak, the three Brownlow votes went to Ben Graham, older brother of Lions CEO-elect Sam Graham, former NFL punter and nephew of one-time Brisbane Bears board member Ricky Graham, a Tasmanian football great who coached Windsor-Zillmere in the QAFL in 1970s.

Other Brisbane AFL debutants at Kardinia Park have been Simon Luhrs (1991), Trent Bartlett (1995), Albert Proud (2007), Ryan Harwood (2010), Jordon Bourke (2014) and Jaxon Prior (2018).

Queenslander Marc Woolnough, son of ex-Geelong and Collingwood player Mike Woolnough, played his first game for the Cats against Brisbane in 1998 in a career cut short by two knee reconstructions.

Other major Brisbane milestones at Kardinia Park have been Robert Walls’ 100^th game as Brisbane coach (1995), Matthew Clarke’s 100^th game (1998), Chris Johnson’s 150^th (2001), Ash McGrath’s 100^th (2008), Daniel Rich’s 250^th (2022) and an odd one – Mark Harvey’s third and last game as Brisbane coach and his 100^th game as an AFL coach in the last round of 2013, when he filled in after the sacking of Michael Voss.

Brisbane Records at Kardinia Park are:

Most Possessions – 37. This is shared at Tom Rockliff (2013) and Dayne Beams (2018). Luke Power’s 36 in 2010, Simon Black’s 34 in 2001 and Nigel Lappin’s 33 in 2000 are next best.

Most Goals – 8. This is a record that has stood for 38 years after Jim Edmond kicked a career-high in the club’s first visit in 1987. Mark Williams’ six in the same game and Ash McGrath’s six in 2013 are next best.

Most Brownlow Medal Votes – 8. Nigel Lappin was twice best afield and polled three times at the ground he now calls home, while Craig Lambert (6), Jason Akermanis (5), Michael Voss (4), Adrian Fletcher (4) and Luke Power (3) polled twice.

For Geelong against Brisbane at Kardinia Park, Gary Ablett Jnr (42) and Joel Selwood (41) top the single-game possession list, Gary Ablett Snr’s eight goals in 1987 is their best, and Selwood’s 11 votes is a club high from Ablett Jnr’s eight and Tom Hawkins’ seven.