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Past Alastair Lynch (1987-2004)
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Bear necessity: Alastair Lynch's sliding door moment
ALASTAIR Lynch knows only too well the kind of pressure current AFL stars Dustin Martin and Josh Kelly are under having massive offers from rival clubs in front of them. Lynch, after all, was the pioneer of the 'mega contract'. Well before Richmond's Martin and GWS Giant Kelly were presented with lengthy lucrative deals by a cashed-up North Melbourne, Lynch was contemplating his own future after being wooed by the Brisbane Bears - to the tune of an unprecedented nine years.
"10," Lynch interjects when News Regional catches up with him. Of course it was Lance Franklin, who signed on for nine when defecting from Hawthorn to Sydney in 2013. Two decades earlier Lynch had been given his own "significant offer I just couldn't refuse". The high-leaping key position player, who had won mark of the year in 1989, was in high-demand in 1993 after a standout season with a cash-strapped Fitzroy.
He had been moved to full-forward and booted 68 goals, though was named at fullback in the All-Australian team. Lynch was keen to remain loyal to the original Lions, despite strong interest from across town at Hawthorn. That is until an ambitious Brisbane Bears outfit intervened.
Peter Hudson, the champion Hawthorn full-forward who was now the club's chief executive, had organised a meeting with Lynch at the Hawks' headquarters at Glenferrie Oval in the hope of getting him to don the brown and gold.
"He used to coach me at the Hobart Footy Club, (and) he wanted to get me over to Hawthorn," Lynch recalled. "I had no intention of leaving at all, but Huddo being Huddo - and someone I respected highly - I went and spoke to him."
In the meantime, Brisbane had come knocking on the then 25-year-old's door to complicate one of those sliding doors moments. "I showed him the offer that I got from Brisbane ... he couldn't match it or even argue against it. "He said best of luck, you've got to accept it.
"I had the same sort of conversation with Roosy (Paul Roos), who was my captain at the time. "I was essentially getting my contract tripled and guaranteed payment for 10 years. "Although it weighed heavily on me to actually leave Fitzroy I had no choice."
Alastair Lynch prepares to kick a goal for FitzroyGetty Images
Lynch's contract was then worth about $300,000 a season - which pales in comparison to the reported $1 million plus Martin and Kelly could be getting if they leave. But in the early '90s it was big bickies.
"Brisbane probably didn't get the value early," Lynch says. "Thirteen games first year with a couple of broken collarbones and a knee operation and then the second year played one game. "I slowly started to warm into it after that." That one game in 1995 was due to a mystery virus later revealed to be chronic fatigue syndrome.
He became somewhat of a poster boy for overcoming the condition - and one of the first in Australia to use ice baths as part of his recovery.
But he admits the pressure had gotten to him that season - after the Bears had invested so heavily in him being one of their 'saviours' - prior to finally returning to the field for round one 1996.
"There were times when I thought 'what I've done' when I got crook and wasn't playing and everything was falling apart," he recalled. Lynch would of course go on and become an integral member of Brisbane's three premierships - 2001 -2003 - and play 306 games. His first finals match wouldn't come until his 150th game in 1996.
"Then it came with a rush after that," he says. "I was very lucky." The Bears had become the Lions in 1997, and after a few teething problems, conquered all. "They put very good people around the place," Lynch says. "Andrew Ireland as the CEO put an enormous amount of structure in place. "And obviously getting Leigh Matthews in (as senior coach) was fantastic."
Lynch, who finished up in 2004 - "one extra" year on top of the initial 10 years - has watched the Lions progression - or lack there of - from close quarters, the Tasmanian footy legend having settled in the Sunshine State. The club has played two finals since Lynch's last game in the losing 2004 grand final.
"We'd come off a very successful period, which was great, I wouldn't swap it for anything in the world," the now Fox Footy special comments man says. "But because we were chasing four flags we probably didn't develop enough younger players at the time. "And as we bottomed out we made some recruiting mistakes, and then on top of that you get the 17th and 18th teams come into the competition, so they get the draft concessions
"It was almost the perfect storm. "Frustrating for supporters and frustrating for past players as well I can assure you. "I think the club would admit we haven't managed it well. "When you're not in an AFL state, you've got to do things much better. "The things they are putting in place now should be able to turn that around."
Lynch is liking the work senior coach Chris Fagan and football manager David Noble has been doing with a young, promising group that will attempt to lift itself off the bottom of the ladder this Saturday when hosting 17th-placed North Melbourne.
"That's what they (Brisbane) has done well - found some really experienced footy people. "I think in the past when we've been struggling we've trimmed the football department. "I think the AFL has learnt its lesson as well. When you're struggling you've got to put more resources into the footy department."
But, obviously make sure there's a little left in the kitty for the players as well.
Really good interview with Alistair Lynch and one the regulars on the Over 50's Clique will appreciate.
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
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5 Best Finals Performances In Lions History
Alastair Lynch – 2002 Qualifying Final
Twice he kicked a club record seven goals in a final – the 1996 semi-final was the other one – but this was extra special. It could easily have been 10. At 34 in his 269th AFL game he kicked 7-5. He took a career-best 11 marks inside the forward 50m zone and three contested marks as he steered the Lions to a 71-point win. It was one of a string of highlights in Lynch’s finals career in which he kicked 65 goals to rank qual 6th all-time behind Collingwood’s Gordon Coventry (111), Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall (78), Richmond’s Jack Titus (74), Hawthorn/Sydney ace Lance Franklin (72) and Hawthorn’s Leigh Matthews (72) and level with Carlton’s Stephen Kernahan (65).
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #57
2023 Queensland Football Hall of Fame – Alastair Lynch
It is a rare footballer who, at 25, is offered and signs a 10-year playing contract, and an even more rare footballer who has to extend his 10-year contract because he’s out-lived it. That’s Alastair Lynch.
A born-and-bred Tasmanian, he was a 25-year-old 120-game Fitzroy All-Australian in the prime of his career when he joined the Brisbane Bears on an historic 10-year deal in 1994. One of the very special recruits all-time to Queensland football. So special the Tasmanian Hall of Famer is now a Queensland Hall of Famer.
It’s a double that reflects the magnitude of an extraordinary AFL career that spanned 17 years, 306 AFL games and a key role in the 2001-02-03 Brisbane Lions premiership hat-trick that did so much for the code in his adopted state.
More than just an outstanding player, he was a key marketing and promotional tool for the game at a time when it needed it most. Having moved from Carrara to the Gabba in 1993, the Bears had won just four games in their first season in Brisbane.
The hugely successful ‘I’d Like To See That’ advertising campaign was in full swing, but it needed more and the 195cm fullback turned full forward was a huge part of it. A ‘face’ that even non-AFL people in Queensland got to know well.
Working with major sponsors like Coca Cola, he became a prominent regular in the Brisbane media – a ‘face’ on Channel Seven and a newspaper columnist for almost as long as he played. And in retirement he became a ‘Fox Footy’ commentator. Having lived longer in Queensland than he had in Tasmania and Victoria combined when he turned 50 in 2018, he was ‘the Queensland guy’.
Born in Burnie on Tasmania’s north-west coast, he went to Burnie High and played football at Wynyard before moving to Hobart to play under the legendary Peter Hudson. A supreme athlete who was also a prospective State cricketer, he was drafted to Fitzroy with pick #50 in the first AFL National Draft in 1986.
The only 300-gamer to come out of his draft year, he took the 1989 AFL Mark of the Year in his 30th game – a hanger against North at the MCG in Round 16 – and was one of the elite players in the competition in 1993 when he topped the Fitzroy goal-kicking with 68 and won the club best and fairest. He was All-Australian the same year – at fullback – after playing regularly on the some of the great key forwards in his earlier years such as Ablett, Dunstall, Lockett, Carey, Kernahan, Sumich and Longmire.
But Fitzroy, VFL premiers in 1898-99 and 1904-05-13-16-22-44, were on a downward spiral amid mounting financial pressures. The Brisbane offer was too good to refuse.
He kicked an equal career-best eight goals in a brilliant Bears debut as a mobile centre half forward in 1994, but after struggling through Round 1 1995 he fell victim to what was later diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He inadvertently became the public face of the then mystery illness, and when he returned to football in 1996, he was a different player. More of a stay-at-home full forward, but a powerhouse for the next nine years.
He shared the Brisbane captaincy with Michael Voss from 1997-2000, a concept that was something of an AFL rarity at the time, before standing down. When the Lions won their first flag in 2001, Voss had intended to share the presentation dais with his long-time partner but forgot in the heat of the moment. It didn’t matter. Lynch had finished with the ball in hand on the final siren, holding it aloft in what became an iconic photo. And as fate would have it, he shared the cup presentation with Voss and coach Leigh Matthews in 2002.
Part of a lethal strike-force during the Lions’ golden years with Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw, he topped the Brisbane goal-kicking in 1996-2000-01-02-03. Six times he kicked 50-plus goals in a season, headed by 74 in 2002 and 78 in 2003. He kicked five or more goals in a game 40 times.
At his best in the big games, he kicked 2-4 in the 2001 grand final and would have been a Norm Smith Medal contender if he’d kicked straight and followed with hauls of 7-5-4 in the 2002 finals and 3-6-3-4 in the 2003 finals.
In Round 16 2004, he became the 43rd player in history to reach 300 games, celebrating with a 36-point MCG win over Collingwood. At 36 years 28 days he was and remains the oldest player of all-time.
At the time of his retirement after the 2004 grand final loss to Port Adelaide, his 633 career goals ranked 20th all-time in AFL history, and his 65 goals in 20 finals was 5th all-time. Going on 19 years later, he is 30th all-time overall and 6thin finals.
A member of the Tasmanian State of Origin side that famously beat Victoria at North Hobart Oval in 1990, he was named in 2003 in the Tasmanian Team of the Century, and in 2005 was an inaugural inductee to the Tasmanian Hall of Fame. In 2019 he joined the Lions Hall of Fame.
Father to Madison, Tom and Claudia with wife Peta, he is the only person in history to play for the Brisbane Bears, Fitzroy and the Brisbane Lions, and an adopted superstar of Queensland football.
