Review Grand Final, 2024 - Sydney vs. Brisbane Lions

[luthor]

We did not deserve to have someone like Joey at our club for the 4 years he was here and I'm so grateful for what he brought to the table throughout that time.

If he is reading this online somewhere, just wanted to say a massive thank-you

I love you Joe

 

[Cubs2Lions]

I love you Joe

Hopefully he decides to join BF on that little iPad someday now that he has all this free time on his hands

 

[Mr Ripper]

Four weeks on and still smh over this we're the premiers bizzo

 

[Ceebee]

Four weeks on an still smh over this we're the premiers bizzo

Me too , just enjoying every bit of the afterglow and still wondering how on earth they managed to do what they did .
Just incredible and hope they make a documentary about the year .

It’s my favourite premiership and I never thought anything would top our 3peat .
Just so very special .

 

[Section 5]

Me too , just enjoying every bit of the afterglow and still wondering how on earth they managed to do what they did .
Just incredible and hope they make a documentary about the year .

It’s my favourite premiership and I never thought anything would top our 3peat .
Just so very special .

With our last premiership being over 20 years ago it feels like the best, but that 3 peat was special.

However, there would be a large number of Lions members that the 2024 win was in fact their first/greatest/favourite premiership.

 

[Dalions]

Me too , just enjoying every bit of the afterglow and still wondering how on earth they managed to do what they did .
Just incredible and hope they make a documentary about the year .

It’s my favourite premiership and I never thought anything would top our 3peat .
Just so very special .

I started following the Lions back when the merger happened so was a fan back when the three peat happened, but was no where near the nuffie that I am now.
So this years Premiership after all of those down years as a long term Member was just something else for me. And something that will have a place in my Heart for the rest of my days.

 

[Gadzorks]

I know the team will go down the ladder again at some point and membership will dwindle.

I wonder if it will ever reach the 2010s low or if afl has grown so much in qld, and the women's contributes a lot to this, that there will always be more than 10k at games.

Did it feel like that after the 3peat?

 

[briztoon]

I know the team will go down the ladder again at some point and membership will dwindle.

I wonder if it will ever reach the 2010s low or if afl has grown so much in qld, and the women's contributes a lot to this, that there will always be more than 10k at games.

Did it feel like that after the 3peat?

What is the Bronco’s lowest attendance and when?

 

[Ceebee]

I know the team will go down the ladder again at some point and membership will dwindle.

I wonder if it will ever reach the 2010s low or if afl has grown so much in qld, and the women's contributes a lot to this, that there will always be more than 10k at games.

Did it feel like that after the 3peat?

We played with a minimal group through that era and a lot of our players were a pretty battered by the end of their career . Leigh didn’t bring many younger players in . When the premiership boys started to retire there were big gaps to fill .
A lot of players brought in just didn’t quite cut it and then everything went to crap for a while with Leppa.
I was actually gutted when Vossy was sacked , but some of his recruiting was a bit dodgy .Fev being one of them .

Somehow Fages turned that around and with making finals , slowly things improved .Fixed the culture , recruiting well .
The rest is history .
Some will probably disagree , but that’s just how I saw it unfold .

 

[Grasshopper17]

Four weeks on and still smh over this we're the premiers bizzo

You picked it very early to be fair Rip...

Reckon we may have learnt what it takes to win a premiership tonight.

By all means play an attacking game that may result in you getting burned on turnover, but when it is your turn to defend you do it like your life depends on it. Think we saw that on numerous occasions in the last quarter.

 

[Grasshopper17]

I know the team will go down the ladder again at some point and membership will dwindle.

I wonder if it will ever reach the 2010s low or if afl has grown so much in qld, and the women's contributes a lot to this, that there will always be more than 10k at games.

Did it feel like that after the 3peat?

I didn't think we did a heck of a lot wrong with our recruiting etc after 2004. Obviously a lot of players retired within a couple of years, and our list went from being one of the oldest to one of the youngest pretty quickly. This was justifiable and understandable given we'd tried to make the most of the window we had, which had arguably been open since 1995/6 across a couple of iterations.

To that end I seem to recall our crowd numbers remaining pretty healthy really right throughout the 2000s, even tho we didn't win as much from 2005 onwards.

The mistakes started when we got a bit ahead of ourselves at the end of 2009. Winning a home elimination final against an ok-to-middling 7th placed team should never have been a catalyst for pinning the ears back and going all guns blazing for another flag.

That's how recruiting decisions had a direct impact on our on-field performances, and ultimately our off-field performance (crowd numbers, bottom line, board/management chaos etc).

I just realised that mightn't directly answer your question, but I wasn't living in Queensland then so hard for me to comment on the overall "vibes" around town regarding the Lions and Aussie rules generally etc.

 

[Grasshopper17]

What is the Bronco’s lowest attendance and when?

Outside COVID, there's a couple of sub-10000 crowds at QEII in May/June 1999. That was that remarkable season where we won just 1 of our first 10 matches, before winning 12 of our last 14 to squeak into the top 8.

Both those sub-10000 crowds came at the start of the resurgence, and in both games the Broncos held their opposition scoreless

 

[Ceebee]

I didn't think we did a heck of a lot wrong with our recruiting etc after 2004. Obviously a lot of players retired within a couple of years, and our list went from being one of the oldest to one of the youngest pretty quickly. This was justifiable and understandable given we'd tried to make the most of the window we had, which had arguably been open since 1995/6 across a couple of iterations.

To that end I seem to recall our crowd numbers remaining pretty healthy really right throughout the 2000s, even tho we didn't win as much from 2005 onwards.

The mistakes started when we got a bit ahead of ourselves at the end of 2009. Winning a home elimination final against an ok-to-middling 7th placed team should never have been a catalyst for pinning the ears back and going all guns blazing for another flag.

That's how recruiting decisions had a direct impact on our on-field performances, and ultimately our off-field performance (crowd numbers, bottom line, board/management chaos etc).

I just realised that mightn't directly answer your question, but I wasn't living in Queensland then so hard for me to comment on the overall "vibes" around town regarding the Lions and Aussie rules generally etc.

You explained it better than me ,thank you ..

 

[Pride of lions]

I think our downfall began when Voss tried to offload Bradshaw and Rischatelli to Carlton. It basically destroyed our culture right then. The vision of the two of them being sent to Melbourne and having to do a tour of Carlton’s facility against their will was disgraceful. And then to turn around and recruit Fevola and a couple of broken down guys who barely played a game was the final nail in the coffin. How Fagan has managed to get this club and team back to the top is incredible.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Remember many weren't happy we gave up pick 12 and a top 10 pick in Henderson for Fev and pick 27.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

I think our downfall began when Voss tried to offload Bradshaw and Rischatelli to Carlton. It basically destroyed our culture right then. The vision of the two of them being sent to Melbourne and having to do a tour of Carlton’s facility against their will was disgraceful. And then to turn around and recruit Fevola and a couple of broken down guys who barely played a game was the final nail in the coffin. How Fagan has managed to get this club and team back to the top is incredible.

Bit harsh. Rischa was strongly rumoured to already have a foot out the door to the fledgling Suns and as much as he was my favourite player Braddy (through his manager) always played the contract game and his body was no getting any better (as evidenced by his time at Sydney).

 

[Mr Ripper]

I think our downfall began when Voss tried to offload Bradshaw and Rischatelli to Carlton. It basically destroyed our culture right then. The vision of the two of them being sent to Melbourne and having to do a tour of Carlton’s facility against their will was disgraceful. And then to turn around and recruit Fevola and a couple of broken down guys who barely played a game was the final nail in the coffin. How Fagan has managed to get this club and team back to the top is incredible.

The admin of the joint was a mess going back to the premiership years; it was inevitable this ineptitude would eventually screw the football department.

 

[Section 5]

Our last premiership was 2003 where we also played 4 finals games with attendances and averages basically the same.

2003: Total finals attendance 248,994 (4g) Average 62,249
2024: Total finals attendance 247,096 (4g) Average 61,774

 

[Dalions]

Our last premiership was 2003 where we also played 4 finals games with attendances and averages basically the same.

2003: Total finals attendance 248,994 (4g) Average 62,249
2024: Total finals attendance 247,096 (4g) Average 61,774

Where were those games played?
Would assume the GWS game would bring the averages down for this year.

 

[Pride of lions]

Our last premiership was 2003 where we also played 4 finals games with attendances and averages basically the same.

2003: Total finals attendance 248,994 (4g) Average 62,249
2024: Total finals attendance 247,096 (4g) Average 61,774

But this year our 2 games at the MCG were for a total of about 194,000. So the other 2 were for a total of 53,000 and I think the Gabba game was about 36,000,so the game at GWS was only about 17,000! What a terrible indictment on GWS membership.

 

[Section 5]

Where were those games played?
Would assume the GWS game would bring the averages down for this year.

2003: Total finals attendance 248,994 (4g) Average 62,249
66,092 MCG (L Pies), 32,432 Gabba (Crows), 71,019 Accor (Swans), 79,051 MCG (Pies- reduced capacity construction)

2024: Total finals attendance 247,096 (4g) Average 61,774
35,660 Gabba (Blues), 18,357 GWS (ENGIE), 93,066 Cats (MCG), 100,013 Swans (MCG)

 

[Simbatheking21]

Currently watching a Boston Celtics road to championship mini movie…. F$&k I hope we have some seriously great footage to release something like this….

 

[pod17]

Currently watching a Boston Celtics road to championship mini movie…. F$&k I hope we have some seriously great footage to release something like this….

Would have been posted somewhere before, but this is a nice little teaser:

 

[martinson]

We played with a minimal group through that era and a lot of our players were a pretty battered by the end of their career . Leigh didn’t bring many younger players in . When the premiership boys started to retire there were big gaps to fill .
A lot of players brought in just didn’t quite cut it and then everything went to crap for a while with Leppa.
I was actually gutted when Vossy was sacked , but some of his recruiting was a bit dodgy .Fev being one of them .

Somehow Fages turned that around and with making finals , slowly things improved .Fixed the culture , recruiting well .
The rest is history .
Some will probably disagree , but that’s just how I saw it unfold .

Vossy got delusions of grandeur when we won a final with a fairly average list tbh.

Then the guys he brought in were has beens or had issues. So , sadly , it was mostly on him and whoever else had a part in it which was unfortunate because he was getting the best out of what we had at the time.

The learnings you take is to be realistic about your list and don't take moon shots unless you have the talent there to back it up.

We had no choice but to completely reset by the time Fagan came around and to the current admin's credit they've only topped up where there's been a cost with genuine guns.

 

[pod17]

Vossy got delusions of grandeur when we won a final with a fairly average list tbh.

Then the guys he brought in were has beens or had issues. So , sadly , it was mostly on him and whoever else had a part in it which was unfortunate because he was getting the best out of what we had at the time.

The learnings you take is to be realistic about your list and don't take moon shots unless you have the talent there to back it up.

We had no choice but to completely reset by the time Fagan came around and to the current admin's credit they've only topped up where there's been a cost with genuine guns.

I totally agree with the above. I gave Vossy a little bit of leniency at the time due to Gold Coast's impending arrival, and with Fev's signing, it was a way to keep us relevant in the market and media. Unfortunately, for all parties, it backfired horridly.

It is such a fine line knowing when to top up with mature players, and when to go to the draft. If you misjudge your list build it can have some fairly dire consequences. It will be interesting to see how the Hawks fair this year going after Battle/Barrass, and Collingwood are obviously throwing caution to the wind in pursuit of a flag (personally, I see (or maybe hope?) this one ending badly - hard to carry such a large number of 30+ year olds surely).