The Brisbane Lions will shoot for their third successive premiership this Saturday and, should they be victorious, etch their names into Australian Football folklore in the process.
Of course, their football club has already achieved a three-peat when neds AFL Unpopular Opinions’ own Alastair Lynch and his teammates won premierships in 2001, 2022 and 2003.
And it has started a debate. Which team was better?
Should the Lions win on Saturday, the topic will be argued for many years to come but below are my reasons why the current Lions team is superior.
They Were Closer To Four
Winning four premierships in a row seems unthinkable, and has only been achieved once in the history of the game, but both of these sides had their opportunity at equaling that feat.
Lynchy’s side won three in a row and entered the 2004 Grand Final chasing history but were thumped by Port Adelaide to the tune of 40 points, giving the Power their first ever premiership.
It was at the start of their premiership success, but the current Brisbane Lions were narrowly defeated by Collingwood by four points in 2023 before winning back to back.
Much closer to four in a row.
Longevity
The Brisbane Lions played in a Preliminary Final in 1999, finished 6th in 2000 before their three successive premierships.
After 2004, they missed the finals in the following four seasons.
Chris Fagen’s Brisbane Lions played in two Preliminary Finals and two semi finals before he coached them to their first Grand Final in 2023 and this is their eighth successive finals appearance.
And it would take a brave man to suggest they won’t be featuring in September in the coming years.
For the earlier Brisbane Lions team, it was all about timing and their star players peaked in their careers for those four years but the team as a whole quickly fell off a cliff afterwards.
Recruiting
Both sides recruited well which had a huge impact on their premiership runs.
Alistair Lynch came to the Bears in 1995 and was a key pillar in the forward but there were other role players that improved their list.
Martin Pike was delisted by North Melbourne and picked up in 2001 as well as Mal Michael from Collingwood that same year.
Blake Caracella was a handy recruit in 2003 as well but the current Lions side has them covered in this regard.
The obvious is Lachie Neale who has won two Brownlow medals since wearing the maroon, blue and gold.
Josh Dunkley has added a much needed defensive output to their minefield since arriving from the Western Bulldogs in 2023 and Charlie Cameron the same from an attacking standpoint from Adelaide in 2018.
Essendon discarded Irishman Conor McKenna and the Lions pounced in 2022, Oscar Allen headed east from West Coast, Darcy Fort has played his role after leaving Geelong and Sam Draper in a similar position.
The Midfield
The popular point of view is that the Brisbane Lions of the early 2000s had the superior starting midfield. It’s hard to play devil’s advocate here but I’ll try.
Michael Voss, Nigel Lappin, Simon Black, Jason Akermanis and Luke Power caused headaches for their opponent’s rotating through the midfield and three of those champions have brownlow medals.
They were in the prime of their careers for their premiership run and had the perfect mix between them of skill, toughness, polish, finishing abilities and defensive/attacking prowess.
The current Lions team sees two-time Brownlow Medalist Lachie Neale, two-time Norm Smith Medalist Will Ashcroft, Hugh McCluggage, Josh Dunkley and Zac Bailey rotate through the midfield.
Okay, the 2001-03 team has them covered..
The Forward Line
Robert Walls and the Brisbane Bears got their gun recruit Alistair Lynch to QLD in 1996 and while things didn’t go to plan straight away, he was instrumental during the Lions threepeat.
Not only because he kicked goals with his partner Daniel Bradshaw, but he led his young center half forward Jonathon Brown to be a focal point for their gun midfield.
Those three, as well as their resting midfielders, were relied heavily upon to do the bulk of the scoring and, when compared to the current team, lacked in other goal scoring options.
Jonathan Brown was just 19 when he played in the 2001 Grand Final and while he would go on to become one of the most dominant forwards of his generation, he wasn’t there yet during their three peat.
His direct opponent during this discussion is an easy one.
Logan Morris is in just his second year of AFL football and has kicked more than twice the amount of goals that Brown did in 2001, 2002.
The current Lions forward line has a host of options in their attacking half including Charlie Cameron, Zac Bailey, Kai Lohmann and Cam Rayner.
Even Eric Hipwood has kicked 20 goals since round 14 this year!
They have more options when going forward and in fact from 2001-2003 41.63% of all goals kicked were through Lynch, Brown, Bradshaw and Akermanis.
The Defence
If there was a weakness in both of these sides, and it’s hard to pick one, it is/was their back half.
Their three main defenders are actually very similar to compare with albeit the game is played in a different way.
Mal Michael, Justin Leppitsch and Chris Johnson for the earlier Lions team and Harris Andrews, Darcy Wilmot and Dane Zorko
The game of Australian Football had a lot more contested, one on one contests in the early 2000s so the need for big, key defenders like Mal Michael and Justin Leppitsch were integral to a defensive setup.
Harris Andrews has more All Australian jackets (four) compared to Leppitsch (three) and Michael (zero) combined.