There are no small games for the Brisbane Lions at the MCG, but some are bigger than others. Like whenever they play Collingwood at headquarters. As Henry Smith and Sam Marshall will find out tomorrow night (Saturday).
The pair will get their first taste of AFL headquarters and the country’s best sporting stadium on Saturday night when Brisbane meet Collingwood in a replay of the 2023 Grand Final.
Sunshine Coast product, Marshall, who played junior footy at Kawana Park, lines up for his fourth match in Lions colours, having played two at the Gabba and one at Carrara, and will take to the field in front of the biggest crowd of his short career to date.
And in the absence of Oscar McInerney, who has been managed, Smith will play up forward and share the ruck duties with Darcy Fort, who will play his 42nd Brisbane game – and the 50th of his career.
It’s been a real stop-start journey for Smith, who was drafted from SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens at pick #34 in the 2020 National Draft. The 206cm giant had to wait four years for his first chance at AFL level, playing Rounds 19-20-21-22 last year, before a foot stress fracture delayed his start to 2025.
Marshall and Smith will debut at the MCG as the club makes its 93rd visit to headquarters.
In 92 visits, including the first and last games of the original Brisbane Bears, 16 finals and five grand finals, they’ve endured a 24-1-67 win/loss record.
They are 0-2 v Carlton, 7-8 v Collingwood, 1-1-5 v Essendon, 2-1 v Geelong, 3-6 v Hawthorn, 5-16 v Melbourne, 1-10 v North Melbourne, 0-1 v Port Adelaide, 4-16 v Richmond, 1-0 v Sydney and 0-2 v Western Bulldogs.
Along the way they lost 19 in a row from 1989-1997 and seven in a row from 1997-1999, which combined for one win in 27 games, and 12 in a row from 2015-2022.
But the bad times have only made the good teams even better. Like when they won six in a row during the triple premiership era from 2001-03 leading into a 9-1 run, and a 5-1 run on their last six visits in which the only loss was by one point to Collingwood in Round 23 last year.
A total of 24 Brisbane players have made their AFL debut at the MCG, including the current trio of Zac Bailey, Deven Robertson and Jimmy Tunstill, and Marcus Ashcroft, father of Will and Levi Ashcroft. But only three have started with a win and all were in the club’s first game against North in 1987 - inaugural Bears captain Mark Mickan, Matthew Campbell and Neil Hein.
Campbell’s 19 debut possessions is the club’s highest at the MCG, while Mickan, rewarded for 18 possessions and 20 hit-outs with two Brownlow Medal votes, is the only first-gamer to figure in the votes.
Justin Sherman (3), Nathan Buckley (2), Hein (2), and Derek Wirth (2) were the club’s only multiple goal-kickers on debut at the MCG, while the toughest introduction to League football was Tony Lynn’s 140-point loss to Essendon in 1989 – the club’s second-biggest loss all-time when, in an all-time AFL record, 16 of 20 Bombers kicked goals.
Other Brisbane players to debut at the MCG have been Jayden Attard, Nathan Chapman, Matthew Clarke, Richard Hadley, Matthew Hammelmann, Justin Leppitsch, Rhys Mathieson, Beau McDonald, Tim Notting, Chris O’Sullivan, Jared Polec, Tom Rockliff and Shannon Rusca.
Rockliff is the only one of this group to debut at the MCG against Collingwood. He had five possessions in a 40-point loss in Simon Black’s 250th game in Round 18, 2009.
Among the current players, only three who started their career with the Lions won their first game at the MCG. Darcy Wilmot had a 13-point win over Hawthorn in a 2022 semi-final in his second game, Kai Lohmann had a 22-point win over Melbourne in his 13th game last year, and Bruce Reville marked his first and only MCG visit with a 28-point win over Richmond this year.
Cam Rayner and Jarrod Berry had the toughest introduction to ‘headquarters’, going down to Richmond by 93 points in their first visit in 2018.
Marshall and Smith will experience what all the fuss is about as the Lions, coming off a bad loss to Gold Coast last week and in a dog fight for a top-four finish and the all-important double-chance, chase yet another interstate bogey on Saturday night.
Already this year they’ve posted their first MCG win over Richmond since 2009, their first MCG win over Hawthorn since 2004, and their first win over Geelong in Geelong since 2003.
This week they are out to snap a four-game losing streak against Collingwood and post their first MCG win over the Pies since 2014.
It’s a misleading statistic because they have beaten Collingwood at Marvel in 2021 and 2023, but after six wins in a row against the arch rival from 2020-23 the Lions have lost twice to the Pies at the MCG and twice at the Gabba in a run which started with the 2023 Grand Final.
Regardless, there is one guarantee awaiting Marshall and Smith in the second instalment of the League’s latest family rivalry between Ashcroft brothers against the Daicos brothers – a big and loud crowd.
Fifteen Brisbane games at the MCG against Collingwood have an average turnout of 54,736 compared to the equivalent figure of 27,537 for 21 games against Melbourne, 28,786 for 20 games against Richmond, 43,077 for seven games against Essendon, 29,867 for nine games against Hawthorn and 23,227 for 11 games against North Melbourne.
Excluding finals, seven of the top 11 crowds for Brisbane games at the MCG have been against Collingwood.
It’s been a massive uplift on the crowd of 14,096 for the Bears first game against North Melbourne at the MCG on the Friday night of Round 1 1987, with 20 Brisbane games at the ‘G’ having pulled a crowd of more than 50,000.
Single-Game Club Records at the MCG
Lachie Neale set not just the Brisbane club record when he had a whopping 51 possessions in his second game for the club at the MCG against Richmond in Round 23 2019 but also the 10th and still the most recent 50-plus game in AFL history.
It’s one of five 35-plus games for the dual Brownlow Medallist in Brisbane colours at the MCG. He had 40 in his first Lions game there and has followed with bags of 35 (two) and 42.
Nine other Brisbane players have had 35-plus at the MCG – Tom Rockliff (43), Simon Black (39), Martin Leslie (38), Dayne Zorko (36), Phil Walsh, John Gastev, Mark Withers, Michael McLean and Adrian Fletcher (35).
The Brisbane record for most goals in a game has stood for 38 years after it was set in Round 22 1987, when the first-year Bears had to beat Richmond to avoid the wooden-spoon. Brad Hardie steered them home with seven majors.
This was equalled by Jarrod Molloy in the club’s second MCG game post-merger against Melbourne in 1997, and by Jared Brennan against Collingwood in 2007.
Four players have kicked six in a game at the MCG – Hardie (1988), Roger Merrett (1993), Tim Notting (1999) and Jonathan Brown (2007) - while six players have kicked five goals a total of eight times - John Fidge (1987), Chris Johnson (1998-99), Daniel Bradshaw (2001), Alastair Lynch (2002), Jason Akermanis (2003) and Brown (2008-09).
Aggregate Club Records at the MCG
Marcus Ashcroft (38) has played most Brisbane games at the MCG from Simon Black (34), Shaun Hart (34), Darryl White (32), Nigel Lappin (29), Luke Power (28), Michael Voss and Nigel Lappin (27), Jason Akermanis (26), Alastair Lynch, Craig McRae and Tim Notting (24).
Dayne Zorko (23) heads current players from Harris Andrews (21), Eric Hipwood (20), Hugh McCluggage (19), Jarrod Berry (18), Cam Rayner, Charlie Cameron and Ryan Lester (17).
Simon Black (802) has most MCG possessions from Marcus Ashcroft (660), Luke Power (596), Michael Voss (574), Nigel Lappin (566) and Dayne Zorko (539), with Lachie Neale (493) set to join the 500 Club this week.
Jonathan Brown (54) has kicked most Brisbane goals at the MCG from Daniel Bradshaw (46), Alastair Lynch (45), Eric Hipwood (32) and Charlie Cameron (30), while Simon Black heads the club MCG Brownlow Medal vote, having polled eight times for 16 votes. Jonathan Brown polled six times for 11 votes. Michael Voss (8) and Dayne Zorko (8) are next from Tom Rockliff (7) and Shaun Hart (6).
Lachie Neale has five votes – a two and a three in his first two games there in 2019 – but has saved a lot of his big games for finals when votes are not awarded.
Club Highs & Lows at the MCG
Brisbane’s biggest MCG win was 18 years and three days ago in Round 17 2007, when, sitting 12th on a 16-team ladder, they beat 6th-placed Collingwood by 93 points. Jared Brennan’s career-high seven goals in the 22-17 (149) to 7-14 (56) thumping earned him three Brownlow votes, while Jed Adcock took two votes for 27 possessions and four goals, and Jonathan Brown one vote for 22 possessions and three goals.
Like Brad Hardie’s single-game goal-kicking record, the club’s highest score at the MCG has stood since Round 22 1987. They kicked 26-13 (169), with Mike Richardson (25 possessions, three goals), Geoff Raines (22 possessions, two goals) and Mark Mickan (19 possessions, one goals) took the votes despite Hardie’s seven goals.
Brisbane’s lowest score at the MCG was 2-5 (17) against Richmond’s 16-14 (110) in Round 4 2018 in Zac Bailey’s AFL debut. Dayne Zorko kicked the Lions’ first goal 60 seconds before three-quarter-time, when they trailed 0-4 to 11-12, and Cam Rayner kicked their second goal 16 minutes into the final quarter.
