‘Saying we were crazy’: The ‘selfless act’ from Lions star… and all-in gamble behind GF stunner

It is the crowning quarter from a quartet of legendary Lions, a generation who has dragged Brisbane from the doldrums to greatness, with the MCG the stage of what is a true miracle on grass. A dynasty is confirmed.

In a compelling grand final clinched by Brisbane by 47 points over Geelong, the pride of the Lions in Charlie Cameron, Dayne Zorko, Harris Andrews and Lachie Neale stood tall with a magnificent performance in the premiership quarter.

While young Lions led by Norm Smith Medallist Will Ashcroft provided run and dare, and Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley were marvellous in the midfield, it was the elder statesmen who produced a quarter for the ages to win the arm wrestle in the third term.

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The prize is the grandest of all, a successful premiership defense that gives Brisbane their fifth flag this century. It is a triumph that sets them apart from their rivals.

Such an outcome seemed inconceivable just three weeks ago when Brisbane was smashed by 38 points by Geelong in a qualifying final at the MCG, a margin that flattered the Lions.

It was a bleak night for Brisbane. Neale suffered a calf muscle that was supposed to end his season. Cameron had just one kick. And they were consigned to an arduous journey just to get to another grand final, let alone manage to pull off another flag.

Yet when the arm wrestle needed to be won, with the scores tied at halftime in a grand final for the first time since 1909 and in a match for the first time this season, it was Brisbane’s muscle men who broke the stranglehold and put the Cats to the sword.

One of the finest small forwards footy has seen, Cameron had been the almost man this September. After the shocker on the opening night of the finals, he had his chances against the Gold Coast and Collingwood but could manage just one goal.

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Confidence can be fickle beast, even for the very best. It just seemed like the 31-year-old needed the ball to bounce his way for once, a spark to reignite his flame. When the moment arrived in the second term, Cameron delivered with a magical goal.

With the pressure unburdened, he snared two more goals in the third term as the Lions wrestled what had been a match of swinging momentum their way for good and added a fourth in the last term. He saved his best footy for the grandest stage.

At the other end Andrews did what Andrews always does. He was immovable in defence, the proverbial brick wall who frustrated Geelong’s forward entries time and again. Shannon Neale kicked a fine goal in the second term, but he was taught a lesson by a defensive maestro who led a defensive masterpiece by Brisbane across the board.

Dunkley, who was convinced to join the Lions after meeting Neale and Andrews for dinner a couple of years back, said the enduring champions were always going to stand up when it mattered most given their attributes.

“There are always going to be moments in big games like this and it’s hard to know what way it’s going to go, but for our guys to stand up was brilliant,” Dunkley told foxsports.com.au.

Geelong, with stars including captain Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron either well held or injured, had booted 100 points or more in their last eight matches. But their chief weapons were silenced and they were held to just 75 points.

The form judges would have been better considering the Rd 15 clash between the two grand finalists, when the Lions held Geelong to just 51 points at home, then the qualifying final at the start of September.

Zorko, meanwhile, had been the skipper when Chris Fagan arrived at the Lions and took them from the cellar dwellers to the champion side they now are, a team that appears to have no limits given they had eight players under 22 playing on Saturday.

After handing over the captaincy to Andrews and Neale, he reinvented himself off the half-back flank and provided great poise and dash in the the third term as what had been a brutal grand final until half-time started to open up.

Finally there was Neale. It was only a cameo by the dual-Brownlow Medallist, who served as the substitute until half-time before being unleashed after half-time. It was the boldest of gambles but one that paid immense dividends.

The champion took a few minutes to warm up but put the punctuation mark on a mighty third term when bursting into the clear and thumping a goal from outside 50 metres with one minute left on the clock to extend the margin beyond three goals.

It was a classic grand final goal. And when it eased past the right goal post, Neale turned back towards his teammates in the centre of the ground and unleashed with a fist pump. This was the breaking point in the grand final. And all those hours spent in a hyperbaric chamber over the past month are worth it and even more. What a career he has compiled.

“I thought Charlie was unbelievable today and the role that Lachie played, it was another selfless act from him,” Dunkley said.

“He just said, ‘I just want to be involved and I don’t really care where I’m playing or if I’m the sub, that’s all good.’ So to have that presence of mind to be able to do that and come on and then dominate in the second half, he’s such a special player. It is just a great team. And Harris Andrews, what else can you say? He is just an unbelievable player.”

After starting the century with a hattrick of premierships, this Lions side will be chasing a third premiership in succession next year.

Star forward Joe Daniher retired after last year’s grand final. Yet they handled his absence with minimal concern.

But they were also without the unlucky Jarrod Berry, who was injured last week, along with Keidean Coleman, Jack Payne, Lincoln McCarthy and Eric Hipwood.

The Lions of the early noughties were coached by a legend in Leigh Matthews. Fagan had already cemented his status as a favoured son by leading Brisbane back to the Holy Grail last year. To do it again, in these circumstances, is arguably sweeter.

It was a point made by Brisbane chairman Andrew Wellington afterwards, who said the mentor was truly a masterful coach.

“He’s absolutely a favourite son and I think he deserves now to be spoken about as one of the really great coaches,” Wellington told fosxports.com.au.

“I’ll leave it to others to say whether he is one of the greats, but I think to win two flags back-to-back and play in three grand finals, play in seven final series, that’s a huge effort. And we faced a lot of challenges this year.

“Last year, the challenges of the first half of the year were well documented, but we actually ended up with a pretty stable group for the back half of the year. This year, right through the season, we had players coming in and out with injury. We had a tough draw and … obviously we had a disappointing qualifying final against Geelong, so we had to go the long way round.

“I can understand why most people thought Geelong would have the wood on us, having watched the qualifying final, but it was a great effort by Chris to get the match ups right and get the players up for it.

“And I think I heard someone say that they thought picking Lachie Neale was one of the riskiest decisions they’d seen that there ever was and there was doctors who are outside the club saying that we were crazy.

But it was an inspired decision and having him sub and having him come on the second half and play as effectively as he did was great.”

What, now, for the Cats? It is a bitter result for a side that had played brilliantly for much of the season but, when the premiership was their to be won in the third term, were swept aside by the ferocity of their rivals.

The injury to Cameron, who suffered a significant arm injury but soldiered on, was unfortunate, but he had struggled to have an impact to that stage of the match, with Geelong midfielder Tom Atkins saying later they did their forwards a disservice.

His absence from midway through the third term, after he exacerbated the injury when chasing down Jaspa Fletcher, until the start of the last quarter proved pivotal. The premiership had been in the balance when he fell heavily to the turf.

Brisbane were able reorganise after that and kicked 12 goals to five from that moment on when running Geelong ragged, with Neale a factor and Ashcroft an absolute star when clinching his second straight Norm Smith Medal.

Dangerfield was extraordinary in the preliminary final. But with Brandon Starcevich wearing him like a glove until he suffered a concussion in the third term, the Geelong skipper and superstar was unable to break free and have an influence.

As Starcevich said in the rooms later, ‘these muscles are not painted on” and while he watched Dangerfield’s demolition of Hawthorn with some concern, he backed himself in to stifle the superstar.

“I’ve done plenty of those jobs before, so it’s not my first time, but yeah, it’s Dangerfield on grand final day. It does not get much bigger than that and obviously we saw his performance last week,” he said.

“He carried him over the line in the preliminary final and he’s very inspirational, but I backed myself, knowing that if I could play him tight and nullify his impact, it would give us a chance of winning the grand final, and I can hold my head high.”

The star Geelong duo were not alone. Max Holmes, the unlucky story in Geelong’s 2022 premiership, gave the Cats plenty of drive. Bailey Smith won plenty of the ball early on but his creativity was stymied when the premiership was there to be won. A crunching tackle from Cam Rayner late in the match broke his headband. But by that stage the Cats were broken too.

After half-time for Geelong, there was little to celebrate.

Instead the celebrations are with the Lions. Brisbane, the city, and Fitzroy, the Melbourne suburb, will be jumping tonight.

This champion team will be presented to an adoring crowd at Brunswick St Oval, the heart of Fitzroy, on Sunday, before flying home to be presented to the Brisbane faithful after the Lions AFLW match at Brighton Homes Arena tomorrow evening.

By the time the Lions were presented to fans at Yarra Park about 8pm, the party was in full swing.