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Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club (the trading name for the ''Brisbane Bears-Fitzroy Football Club'') are an Australian Football League club based in Brisbane , Queensland . They are the most successful AFL team this century, having won three consecutive Grand Finals, and appeared in a fourth. The Lions are the only AFL club permanently based in Queensland. CLUB HISTORY The club was formed from the post- 1996 Merger of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy , and is known as the ''Brisbane Lions''. The side plays its home games at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (also known as the Gabba). Background to the merger The Fitzroy Football Club was formed on 26 September 1883 at the St Virgil's College performance centre and the founding member was legendary Patrick Trigg. They wore blue shorts and their jersey and socks were maroon. Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy became the club’s home ground. Formed on 6 October 1986 , the Brisbane Bears were a young club and during the club’s short ten year history the Bears were unable to win any Premierships. With Peter Knights as the club’s first coach, the Bears home ground became Carrara at the Gold Coast and being the first Queensland club in the VFL. But in 1993 the Bears moved permanently to Brisbane, The Gabba. On 4 July 1996 the Australian Football League (AFL) approved the first ever club merger in Victorian Football League (VFL) and AFL history, between the Fitzroy Lions and the Brisbane Bears. The combination of the two clubs led to the creation of a great team. The Bears were on the rise and had lost the Preliminary final to the eventual Premiers, North Melbourne in 1996, while Fitzroy , despite having finished as wooden spooner two seasons running, contained a number of promising young players. On 4 July 1996 it was decided that the Brisbane Lions would be created. The Brisbane Lions were officially launched on 1 November 1996 , joining the national competition in 1997. Post Merger In their first year as the Brisbane Lions they made the finals but despite a talented playing list, the club finished last the following year, resulting in the sacking of coach John Northey with eight rounds of the season remaining. Over the summer, the club replaced Northey with Leigh Matthews , who in 1990 delivered Collingwood its only premiership since 1958. Matthews, voted the player of the century in 2000, played his entire career with Hawthorn during the club's most successful period and brought many of the Hawthorn disciplines to the Lions game. Within a season he lead them from the bottom of the ladder to 4th, losing to the eventual premiers the Kangaroos in the preliminary final, before placing 5th in 2000. 2001 - First premiership The club won its first AFL premiership by defeating Essendon 15.18 (108) to 12.10 (82) in the 2001 AFL Grand Final . Lions utility player Shaun Hart won the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground in the Grand Final. On the morning after winning the flag, the club took the premiership cup to the Brunswick Street Oval in Fitzroy, the original home of the Fitzroy Football Club . It was an important way of connecting with Melbourne-based Lions fans, many of whom had previously supported Fitzroy, and of winning over disaffected Fitzroy fans who had not started supporting the Brisbane Lions post-merger by honouring the history of the club. The Premiership Cup then made its historic first trip to Brisbane, a traditionally rugby league focused city. In the same year, Brisbane Lion (and former Bear) midfielder Jason Akermanis won the league's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal . 2002 - Back-to-back premierships In 2002, the Lions won back-to-back premierships when they defeated Collingwood 9.12.66 to 10.15.75 in the 2002 AFL Grand Final in cold and wet conditions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground . Early in the contest the Lions lost both ruckman Beau McDonald and utility player Martin Pike (who had already amassed 9 possessions in the first quarter) to injury and had to complete the match with a limited bench. Despite not scoring a goal in the first quarter, the undermanned Lions overcame a spirited Collingwood in the closest Grand Final in 15 years. Controversy surrounded the awarding of the Norm Smith medal for best player in the Grand Final to Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley. The voting panel cast its votes 20 minutes before the conclusion of the match. However, Lions captain Michael Voss was dominant in the final quarter to lead his team to victory and many speculated that, had voting taken place at the final siren, Voss may have won the award over Buckley. The voting procedure was changed for subsequent Grand Finals. In the same year, Brisbane Lion midfielder Simon Black won the Brownlow Medal for best and fairest player of the 2002 season. In 2002, former Brisbane lawyer, Michael Bowers became Chief Executive Officer, as part of as move to turnaround the Club's problematic finances. 2003 - Three peat In 2002, the Brisbane Lions became the first Grand Final participant in AFL history to have three Brownlow Medallists in its lineup, the 3 being 1996 winner Michael Voss , 2001 winner Jason Akermanis and 2002 winner Simon Black . With a number of players under an injury cloud, and having lost to Collingwood in a semi-final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground two weeks previously, the Lions went into the game as underdogs. However, they sealed their place in history as an AFL dynasty by thrashing the Magpies in cool but sunny conditions. At one stage in the final quarter the Lions lead by almost 80 points before relaxing when the match was well and truly won and allowing Collingwood to score the last 4 goals. The final score of 20.14.134 to 12.12.84, saw the club become only the third in AFL history to win three consecutive Premierships and the first to do so since Melbourne in 1957. Given the equalisation measures of the modern AFL (such as the draft and the salary cap), it is possible that the feat will never be repeated. Simon Black claimed the Norm Smith Medal with a dominant 39 possession match, the most possessions ever gathered by a player in a Grand Final. 2004 In 2004, the Lions fell just short in its quest for a fourth consecutive flag, losing to Port Adelaide in the 2004 AFL Grand Final . At the twenty minute mark of the third quarter, the Lions led, but were over-run by a fresher Port Adelaide which had two additional days to prepare for the match as a result of playing their preliminary final on a Friday night. Despite requests for fair treatment, the Lions were forced to play its preliminary final against Geelong in Melbourne on the following evening, despite the club having fairly earned the right to stage a home final. This resulted in Brisbane travelling home to prepare for the grand final on the Sunday morning while their grand final opponents Port Adelaide, a team which in fact had earned the two extra days preparation because of their finishing minor premiers, were into their second recovery day. It became a telling factor during the final 30 minutes of the premiership decider. During this four year period, the Brisbane Lions became the most dominant team of the modern era. Many purists have argued that in the time of salary cap and a player draft specifically designed to assist the weaker clubs, not to mention the travel demands of modern football, the performance of the Brisbane Lions during this period is unequalled by any club in history including the Collingwood side which claimed four consecutive flags in the late 1920s, and the Melbourne side which won 5 out of 6 premierships from 1955-1960. 2005 The Lions had an inconsistent season in 2005, and fell away badly towards the end, losing many games by very large margins. They finished a disappointing eleventh - out of the finals for only the second time in the club's history. When able to field its strongest lineup, the Lions produced some strong performance reminiscent of its triple premiership days however, injuries to Justin Leppitsch , Jonathan Brown , Nigel Lappin , and the retirements of premiership players such as Marcus Ashcroft , Alastair Lynch , Martin Pike , Shaun Hart and Craig McRae had taken its toll and the club played more first year players than any other side in the competition. 2006 Lions began the 2006 season optimistically, but injuries again plagued the club, whose players recorded an AFL record total of 200 matches lost to injury for the season. Justin Leppitsch was forced to retire through injury and with season ending injuries to prominent players Nigel Lappin , Chris Scott , Ashley McGrath , Richard Hadley , Anthony Corrie and key ruckman Jamie Charman , coach Leigh Matthews was forced to debut an unprecedented number of youngsters and rookies and due to this, the club experienced inconsistent results. While many of the new youngsters displayed great promise, and continued to attack the ball and tackle opponents in typical Brisbane Lions spirit, it became evident during the final few matches that the young Lions were clearly into rebuilding mode. With AFL Rising Star nominations to Michael Rischitelli , Cheynee Stiller and Matthew Moody and the emergence of rookie Jason Roe among others, the future looks promising, but the realists also know that the rebuilding phase will take a few years. Despite the young team losing more home games than ever before, and reducing the Gabba's status as a fortress that intimidated opposition teams, the Lions still produced average crowds the equal of the Rugby League premiership winning Brisbane Broncos. Justin Leppitsch and Brad Scott announced their retirements during the Season . A controversial feud between the club and Jason Akermanis divided supporters of the club and received massive publicity, resulting in Akermanis being stood down for the last seven matches of the season by his senior playing peer group who felt that his loyalty to the club and playing group was compromised. After the 2006 home and away season it was revealed that major sponsor AAPT would not be renewing their sponsorship. It was announced shortly after that Vodafone had signed a sponsorship deal with the club worth 5.4 million dollars over three years. The Brisbane Lions team of the decade fullback Mal Michael announced his retirement from football on Thursday 5 October due to lack of motivation and desire to pursue other non-football related activities. While at the Lions he was one of the premier fullbacks in the AFL and was very unlucky not to receive an All-Australian honour and was a pivotal figure at the Brisbane Lions and played a significant role in each of the grand finals contested. In highly controversial circumstances, a contract loophole enabled Mal to sign with the Essendon Bombers and continue his career there. Inspirational Skipper Michael Voss also announced his retirement from football on Friday 6 October due to the stress placed on his body from years of football and a chronic knee injury. He was the co-captain of the team from 1997 to 2000 with Alistair Lynch before leading the side for the remainder of his career, including the historic three straight premierships. In his final season of football, Voss still played 21 out of a possible 22 games, missing one game through knee soreness which turned out to be the same knee which led to his retirement. At the completion of the 2006 season Chris Johnson remains as the last ever representative of the Fitzroy Football Club to be playing senior AFL football. 2007 The Brisbane Lions finished runner up in the NAB pre-season cup, and then went on to create history by being the first team in the history of the AFL to have 5 co-captains. They started the season with a convincing 25-point win over Hawthorn , 9.15.(69) to 6.8.(44) and a massive win, after tributes to former captain, Michael Voss , against the St. Kilda Football Club , with a 52 point margin. On Sat 12 May, the Lions marked Leigh Matthews' 200th game in charge of the team against the Crows On Saturday 19 May, against Mal Michael's new team, the Essendon Bombers, the Lions began confidently, but eventually succumbed to their biggest loss so far in season 2007, by a margin of 64 points. The Lions lost to Collingwood by 33 points at the Gabba in Round 9 and drew with Richmond at Telstra Dome with the final scores 10.13 (73)-apiece. On Thursday ' new side, the Western Bulldogs , in Round 11. On July 22 , the Lions faced a struggling Carlton Blues side who were on the back of a 62-point thrashing to Sydney the previous week. Brisbane kicked 8.5-0.3 in the last quarter, the final margin being 117 points, Brisbane's biggest ever win over Carlton, bettering their 103-point loss to Carlton in Round 10, 1987. Also, gun forward Jonathan Brown became the first player in Brisbane Lions/ Brisbane Bears history to kick 10 goals in a match, beating Brad Hardie ( 1989 ) and Daniel Bradshaw ( 2005 ) who both kicked nine goals. In Round 17 the Lions celebrated their return to the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a 93 point defeat of Collingwood . Jared Brennan played the best game in his 54 game career, scoring 7 goals and 5 behinds. The Lions played second-placed Kangaroos the following week in a scrappy contest at The Gabba , holding the Roos goalless in the first quarter before eventually going on to win 10.17 (77) to 5.10 (40), lifting them into the top eight for the first time since round 7. The Lions got off to a good start against Hawthorn the following week, leading by 15 points before trailing by five points thanks to a Tim Boyle goal after the quarter time siren. Jonathan Brown kicked Brisbane's only four goals in the second quarter before a Lance Franklin goal after the half-time siren reduced the Lions' lead to just five points before the Hawks broke away to a 28-point three-quarter time time lead. The Lions just couldn't come back and lost by 24 points. To make things worse, Rhan Hooper copped 3 matches for striking Hawthorn's Rick Ladson , Joel Macdonald and Troy Selwood missed the must-win clash against Sydney . Brisbane started off well with Richard Hadley booting the first goal of the game but poor kicking and too many turnovers saw them trail by 10 points at quarter-time before Jonathan Brown evened the scores at 24-all at half-time. The Lions failed to score a goal in the third time-scoring 0.3 to the Swans' 3.5. However, they jumped straight out of the blocks in the first 3 minutes, with Jonathan Brown putting the Lions in front with his second for the night. But with less than four minutes remaining, Brett Kirk thought he'd won the game for Sydney only for Jonathan Brown to kick a 55-metre goal just before the full-time siren to secure a 9.9 (63) to 8.15 (63) draw. TEAM OF THE DECADE The first AAPT Brisbane Lions Team of the Decade was unveiled at the club’s gala 10 year anniversary black tie ball before 800 people at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Thursday, 22 June 2006 . Backs: Chris Johnson , Mal Michael , Darryl White Half-Backs: Marcus Ashcroft , Justin Leppitsch , Chris Scott Centres: Nigel Lappin , Michael Voss (c), Brad Scott Half-Forwards: Jason Akermanis , Jonathan Brown , Craig Macrae Forwards: Luke Power , Alastair Lynch , Daniel Bradshaw Rucks: Clark Keating , Simon Black , Shaun Hart Interchange: Martin Pike , Tim Notting , Jamie Charman , Richard Champion Coach: Leigh Matthews CORPORATE Membership base # following finals matches Due to their merger with Fitzroy , approximately 6,700 of Lions members are based in Melbourne. 2001 GRAND FINAL See Also: 2001 AFL Grand Final 2002 GRAND FINAL See Also: 2002 AFL Grand Final 2003 GRAND FINAL See Also: 2003 AFL Grand Final 2004 GRAND FINAL See Also: 2004 AFL Grand Final 2005 SEASON 2006 SEASON 2007 SEASON INDIVIDUAL AWARDS Best and Fairest Merrett-Murray Medal Brownlow Medal winners
Leigh Matthews Trophy winners
Norm Smith medal winners
Mark of the Year winners
Goal of the Year winners
Coleman Medal winners
All-Australian players
National team representatives (since 1999)
Jim Stynes Medalists (best player national team)
CLUB FACTS Premierships Grand Finalists/Runners Up Pre-Season Grand Finalists AFLQ Premierships Wooden Spoon Coaches
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Biggest home crowds CURRENT SQUAD ''As of 24 December 2006 :'' Rookies Bold text means the players have played in at least one AFL Grand Final . NOTABLE PAST PLAYERS CLUB JUMPERS These are the jumper designs used in the 2007 season. The club's current major sponsor is now Vodafone .
CLUB MASCOT The Lion's Mascot Manor representative and club mascot is Bernie "Gabba" Vegas, a caricature of a lion dressed in Brisbane Lions jumper, sunglasses, wide lapels and flares, designed to resemble Elvis Presley . SEE ALSO
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