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A secret meeting, deadline trade and a crack medical team: How Brisbane transformed from perennial strugglers into AFL premiers - Marc McGowanAnyone who has access to the above two articles able to share them?
There were only 16 minutes until the trade deadline seven years ago when Charlie Cameron’s wish to leave Adelaide and become a Lion was finally granted.
The Brisbane Lions’ rags-to-riches rise – from perennial strugglers and losing the “go-home five” to this year’s AFL premiers – had an earlier origin, but the Cameron deal was a significant turning point.
The cheeky goal sneak, so well known for his Take Me Home, Country Roads goal celebrations that Lions fans sung it as he left the grand final podium, was the first of a conga line of high-profile recruits who transformed them into a destination club under Chris Fagan.
A 33-year-old Luke Hodge, with 305 games and four flags’ experience with Hawthorn, arrived in the same trade period charged with providing leadership, cultural and mentoring gains.
“Me and ‘Hodgey’ came at the same time, and it was pretty tough in 2018 because I didn’t get my first win until round nine,” Cameron told this masthead after the Lions’ grand final win.
“Everyone was like, ‘Why are you going there?’, and I just saw an opportunity to make myself a better player, be closer to family, and be part of something.”
The Recruits
The big names kept rolling in: Lachie Neale (2019) – following a covert mid-season meeting in Darwin after the Fremantle-Melbourne game that year, between the then-Docker, his agent Tim Lawrence and Brisbane list manager Dom Ambrogio – Joe Daniher (2020) and Josh Dunkley (2022).
Ex-Crow Tom Doedee (2023) is yet to play a game for the Lions because of another ACL tear, but looms as an excellent back line addition.
Ambrogio and ex-football boss David Noble – who crossed from Adelaide at the end of 2016 and spent four years in the role at Brisbane – also hit home runs with moves for Callum Ah Chee, Linc McCarthy and Jarryd Lyons.
Only ex-Sun Ah Chee played in Saturday’s grand final, but both McCarthy and Lyons were integral in the climb, while another trade acquisition, Darcy Fort, stepped in admirably for injured ruckman Oscar McInerney.
Former Bomber Conor McKenna also played in the premiership after returning from Ireland to resume his AFL career with the Lions as a pre-season signing in December 2022.
McCarthy played 29 games in seven injury-riddled seasons at Geelong, only to become incredibly durable at Brisbane until his ACL rupture in May this year. He is best mates with Neale, but it was McCarthy whom the Lions approached first, rather than vice versa.
Health and welfare
Brisbane’s much-vaunted medical team helped make Ambrogio’s job easier.
The likes of McCarthy, Daniher, Hodge and Grant Birchall had various physical issues that they largely put behind them in the Sunshine State. Doedee said the medical team’s reputation helped him make his free agency decision, too.
“They have a fantastic track record in that regard,” Daniher said after crossing from Essendon.
“I’ve spoken to guys like ‘Birch’ and other teammates who are fully supportive of the whole structure they’ve got at the Brisbane Lions at the moment. As a footballer, all you want to do is go out and play … I’ve been starved of that in the last few years.”
One AFL player manager, who wished to remain anonymous to speak freely, told this masthead that the Lions also had the competition’s No.1 welfare team, headed by Andrew Crowell, which he said made them appealing for prospective recruits.
Ambrogio, who was appointed as Brisbane’s list boss in February 2017 after recruiting stints at Gold Coast and Western Bulldogs, is also held in high esteem in the industry.
This masthead spoke to three player agents and two rival list managers to gain a greater insight into who Ambrogio is and how he operates.
They all described him as a hard worker who was highly intelligent, calculated and strategic; likeable, and always thinking multiple years ahead. But he is a ruthless negotiator determined to get the best for his club – although not unreasonable.
Ambrogio also drew praise for his targeted recruiting and his style of chasing hard those he really wants rather than casting the net wide.
Another of the back-room heroes is national recruiting manager Steve Conole.
Look to the country
Conole and his team’s shrewd eye for talent, combined with a deliberate retention strategy to target, where possible, Victorian country kids and players with prior relationships worked wonders.
He has nailed his first-round draft selections, including Cam Rayner (No.1), Hugh McCluggage (No.3), Zac Bailey (No.15), Darcy Wilmot (No.16), Jarrod Berry (No.17), Brandon Starcevich (No.18) and Kai Lohmann (No.20).
“We won five games in my first two years, and now we’re here, so it means everything,” McCluggage said.
“Even though we weren’t winning, we were measuring our success in smaller ways, so quarter wins and things like that … then from there, it was the growth of the older guys. The younger guys came in, but they were the guys who showed us how it’s done – Ryan Lester, Dayne Zorko, Harris Andrews.”
The club’s academy program has also been a boon, producing the likes of Eric Hipwood, Andrews, Jaspa Fletcher, Jack Payne and Keidean Coleman.
Two father-son products, Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft and Fletcher, played in the grand final, while another Ashcroft, Levi, has also committed and is set to be a top-three pick in November.
Anyone who complains about the Lions’ academy advantages must also concede that Conole, like his Sydney counterparts, has supplemented that with some great selections down the order. They include McInerney (rookie), Noah Answerth (No.55) and Logan Morris (No.31).
Like with any success story, there is no one answer or moment for why it ended up this way. Instead, Brisbane got a lot right, across a long period, that snowballed into a deserved premiership.
An impromptu speech from Lions’ ruckman Oscar McInerney after their loss to Collingwood in round 23 inspired the Brisbane Lions to a five-game winning streak that secured the club’s first premiership for 21 years.
Lions coach Chris Fagan revealed that McInerney’s words became the theme for the remainder of the season after the 30-year-old told his teammates to “give themselves to the team more” in a speech teammate Jarrod Berry labelled as pivotal to their unbeaten finals run.
McInerney’s speech to the team came in the week after their loss to the Magpies cost them a top-four finish and a double chance.
“He stood up and said: ‘Boys, you have just got to give yourself to the team a bit more than you are doing.’ I had never heard him stand up and speak, and it was just one of those really powerful moments that you occasionally get at a footy club, and there he was, ‘the big O’,” Fagan said.
“We’ve been living on that theme for the past five or six weeks.”
McInerney did not play in the grand final after dislocating his shoulder twice in the club’s preliminary final win over Geelong but was as excited as anyone when the final siren went. The crowd at Brunswick Street Oval on Sunday chanted his name to get him onto the stage with his teammates.
“What he did last week was the ultimate team act because he knew if his shoulder popped out again, there’s no chance of him playing,” Fagan said. “We were able to talk about that during the week and how selfless it was. We wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for him.”
Berry said the room had stopped and took notice when McInerney had delivered the impromptu and unexpected home truth because the ruckman had admitted even he was getting caught up in chasing statistics.
“That was a pivotal moment in our season and our journey,” Berry said. “It was pretty special. Oscar spoke about not worrying about stats, goals, marks, kicks and everything like that, [instead] give yourself to the team.
“He felt like he had gone into that trap and that is just impossible because he is one of the most selfless guys on our list. It was so powerful coming from him. I feel like all the boys just bought into that.”
McInerney was self-effacing when asked about his speech on Sunday. He first wondered “how did that get out?” before saying it was the product of the environment co-captains Harris Andrews and Lachie Neale had created – where any player on the list could express their view.
In the meeting room where the speech was delivered was a picture of club stalwart Nicole Duncan, placed there after she died in January following a short battle with leukemia. Duncan, who had been with the club for 30 years, was on the boundary line during the 2023 grand final as well as a key figure in the club’s three-peat premiership era.
Fagan said she was missed and would have loved to be part of the celebrations after the flag, with Brunswick Street Oval filled with the Fitzroy colours on Sunday morning.
“I wish she could be here now,” he said.
“She would love this and the family as well. [Nicole was] an incredibly hard worker for our footy club for [a] long period of time, someone I really relied on. She was big shoes to fill and a big loss to our club.
“I hope she is looking down on these scenes right at the moment.”
McInerney had focused on the opportunity his injury gave Darcy Fort, called in to take the ruck spot, to be part of the premiership side as his team-first attitude had helped the veteran through the season.
“That’s the thing that gets lost, like what a team man he is,” McInerney said.
“[It’s] heartbreak for him not playing in the Giants game, but he was the first one in the rooms pumping us up, I was so glad given what a selfless teammate he has been this year.
“It’s every kid’s dream to be part of a premiership and if you had told me eight years ago I would be at a footy club that was winning the AFL premiership, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
McInerney’s attitude left Fagan in awe and also with a message for the AFL about whether players other than the 23 who take the field on grand final day should get a premiership medal.
“I wish the AFL would give everyone a medal because that is an example of why they should,” Fagan said.
No current season stats available
Yep... I don't think you can underestimate the pay off for the work he and his team have done. Literally the glue.Good to see Andrew Crowellfinally get a mention. Man is a star.PLAYERCARDSTARTAndrew Crowell
- Age
- 47
- Ht
- 189cm
- Wt
- 89kg
- Pos.
- D/F
CareerSeasonLast 5
- D
- 8.0
- 2star
- K
- 3.6
- 1star
- HB
- 4.4
- 3star
- M
- 2.3
- 2star
- T
- 1.5
- 3star
No current season stats available
- D
- 8.6
- 3star
- K
- 4.0
- 2star
- HB
- 4.6
- 4star
- M
- 2.6
- 3star
- T
- 1.0
- 3star
PLAYERCARDEND
so professional football analyst couldn't understand what was going on. then goes on radio with some very strong opinions about the game style.So just listened to the quarter by quarter analysis with king. Don't hate me for it. I was sacrificing myself in big o style.
Firstly he did say he gave fagan a hard time this year. Not an apology though.
Said he has struggled all year to identify a fagan game plan/style. But now after the gf he sees it as a half back probe. So we stay the ball at half back and use the short kicks as way to test which opposition players are committed to defending. Once we identify which one is not working hard we exploit that pathway forward.
In going to remwatch the game and look for that pattern.
Is he still working at the club?Good to see Andrew Crowell finally get a mention. Man is a star.
Is he still working at the club?
Showing more heart than the entire Sydney team.I knew she had a health issue but this is next level
Former AFLW star hospitalised after flag celebrations
'Pacemaker performing like the Swans'www.google.com
Yes. He and everyone else in the meeja, having basically ignored us for most of the season, are finally having to do a bit of scrambling now to figure out "what actually is their game plan?"So just listened to the quarter by quarter analysis with king. Don't hate me for it. I was sacrificing myself in big o style.
Firstly he did say he gave fagan a hard time this year. Not an apology though.
Said he has struggled all year to identify a fagan game plan/style. But now after the gf he sees it as a half back probe. So we stay the ball at half back and use the short kicks as way to test which opposition players are committed to defending. Once we identify which one is not working hard we exploit that pathway forward.
In going to remwatch the game and look for that pattern.
No current season stats available
Yes. He and everyone else in the meeja, having basically ignored us for most of the season, are finally having to do a bit of scrambling now to figure out "what actually is their game plan?"
"WHAT IS THEIR POINT OF DIFFERENCE?"
"WHAT IS THEIR BRAND?"
Of course, if they'd been paying attention they could have figured it easily enough as early as preseason. Altho at one stage I referred to it as "poking", rather than "probing". Whatever
We shouldn't be complaining too much tho. The fact we've been ignored and written off so much throughout the season, our flaws exposed relentlessly without nearly as much focus going on our strengths, has almost certainly been to our ultimate advantage. The cat is out of the bag finally tho I think.
Here is Kingy's segment with Gerard from Monday:
Kingy also touched on Sydney's unwillingness to defend. This was also not new news...
No current season stats available
Saw this earlier and was quite surprised.Of the ten worst AFL contracts right now Cornes doesn't name Hipwood?
Now there's a head scratcher
I now have a lions media addiction.
This came up on my feed. Appropriate.