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Brisbane is an existing club that plays in the Australian Football League, and has not played in any other competition. The club was formed in 1996 from a merger of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy and has won three premierships.
Formation[]
During the 1996 AFL season, Fitzroy knew that they were playing their last season in the AFL and were seeking a merger partner. The AFL rejecting the offer from North Melbourne and took over the process. The Brisbane Bears put an offer on the table and it was accepted. The new club was officially launched on November 1, 1996 as a merger of the on field activities of Fitzroy with the Bears and the club adopted the Lions logo and colours in Brisbane.
First season[]
In round one the Lions were beaten comfortably by eventual premiers Adelaide at Football Park by six goals but in round two the Lions sent a loud message easily defeating St Kilda by 97 points at the Gabba. The Lions went on to win ten games with one draw, and this was enough for them to make the final eight following up on the Bears making the finals in 1995 and 1996. But their season ended when eventual grand finalists and their round two victims St Kilda defeated them by 46 points at Waverley Park.
1998-1999[]
After showing such promise in the first season, the Lions fell in a heap in 1998 dropping to the bottom of the ladder. John Northey was sacked mid season as coach and Roger Merrett served as the caretaker coach for the rest of the season. The Lions though still won five games and played a draw with Port Adelaide in what was a relatively close season with only ten and half games between top and bottom. As if to prove it, the Lions recruited Leigh Matthews as coach for the 1999 season - and the rebound was massive, starting with a smashing 89 point thumping of St Kilda. By the end of the season, the Lions had won sixteen games - the same number of games the top side had won in 1998. In 1999 it put Brisbane in third place on the ladder. That earned the Lions the right to host their first final which they won over Carlton. But the top two sides also won putting Brisbane into the semi final against the Western Bulldogs. They won again at the Gabba, but then lost the preliminary final to eventual premiers North Melbourne. However it was a sign of what was just around the corner.
2000's[]
In 2000 the Lions slipped a little to 12 wins with a percentage boosting 107 point smashing of Fremantle in the last round putting them in sixth place. A strong win over the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba was followed by a big loss to Carlton in a disappointing exit. But Brisbane used that as an inspiration and they roared up to second place in 2001 and two strong wins at the Gabba put them into their first grand final against minor premiers and 2000 premiers Essendon. A seven goal third quarter set up the victory and the first flag for the new club. In 2002 Brisbane repeated the second place finish and again had two strong wins at the Gabba to enter the grand final - this time against Collingwood. In a battle that was close all day the Lions won their second flag in a row by just 9 points. In 2003 Brisbane slipped just slightly with only 14 wins, but that was enough to finish third. However the finals campaign got off to a bad start with a 14 point loss to Collingwood at the MCG. The Lions rebounded at the Gabba to defeat Adelaide and then had to travel to Sydney to take on the the Swans where they won by 44 points to again face Collingwood. This time it wasn't even close - Brisbane won their third flag in a row by 50 points, only the fourth team to achieve the feat in VFL/AFL history.
Rising back to second place in 2004 had the football world talking about the chances of the Lions equalling the four in a row record held by Collingwood, who couldn't prevent it this time as they had previously. They got off to an ominous start thrashing St Kilda for the week's break, but they had to travel to the MCG for their preliminary final due to the agreement the AFL had with the MCG hosting at least a final a week, and minor premiers Port Adelaide were hosting St Kilda in Adelaide. The Lions overcome that obstacle and Geelong and made the grand final against the Power. But it wasn't to be. Leading by a point at half time, the Lions faded in the second half to be defeated by 40 points.
Not surprisingly, the Lions faded down the ladder to eleventh with ten wins in 2005 and then thirteenth with seven wins in 2006. A small revival in 2007 had Brisbane finish tenth with nine wins and two draws, and then tenth again in 2008 with ten wins. Leigh Matthews decided at that point to move on and his place as coach was taken by Michael Voss who brought the Lions back to the finals in 2009 finishing sixth with thirteen wins and a draw. The Lions opened their campaign with a narrow win over Carlton at the Gabba but they were put out in the semi final by the Western Bulldogs.
2010's[]
The 2010's were not a good period for the Lions. A drop back to thirteenth in 2010 was followed by fifteenth in 2011 - their lowest spot since their 1998 wooden spoon. In 2012 Brisbane climbed back to thirteenth and in 2013 they finished twelfth. But a drop back to fifteenth in 2014 led to three forgettable seasons. In 2015 and 2016 the Lions only avoided the wooden spoon by percentage and in the case of 2016 it was only by 0.6 percent. But in 2017 the inevitable happened - Brisbane's first wooden spoon since 1998. A small improvement back to fifteenth followed in 2018.
But in 2019, starting with a massive upset victory over 2018 premiers West Coast in the first round, the Lions were back in business. A tremendous season with just six losses had them in second spot and hosting their first final against Richmond. But a straight sets exit followed with the Tigers winning easily and then West Sydney ending their season by 3 points.
2020[]
Brisbane were keen to make amends and show that the effort was no flash in the pan. The COVID-19 pandemic threatened to derail that and the opening round loss to Hawthorn before no fans didn't help. However when the season resumed and Queensland was coping well with the issue, the Lions proceeded to show that 2019 was no fluke. They only lost two more games, to Geelong in Round 6 and to Richmond in Round 10. This put Brisbane in second spot again.
This led to a replay of the 2019 qualifying final against Richmond. The Lions would not be bowed a second time at home, and won by 15 points to get the week off. Already knowing that the grand final would be at the Gabba no matter what, Brisbane went into the preliminary final determined to be there. But Geelong ended that dream with a good 40 point victory.
2021[]
The Lions got off to a bad start in 2021 losing the first two games before getting a 1 point victory over Collingwood. Another loss had Brisbane in sixteenth place, but the Lions recovered and won the next seven games on the trot to leap to third place and right in the hunt. That roll was stopped by top side Melbourne going into the bye
After the bye Brisbane bagged another three wins in a row, before two losses dropped them to fifth. A win in the Q Clash didn't get them anywhere and a loss to Hawthorn dropped them to sixth and they were headed for an elimination final. But two wins had them fifth with a round to go and they had to beat West Coast in the last round and hope that the Western Bulldogs lost. Both results were delivered and Brisbane made the top four.
The 2021 qualifying final would be against top side Melbourne played at the Adelaide Oval due to Victoria being in lockdown. It would be a disaster for the Lions as the Demons would win comfortably. Brisbane returned to the Gabba to face the Western Bulldogs in the semi final in a game that almost went to extra time before a late behind to the Bulldogs ended the season for the Lions.
2022[]
The start to the 2022 season was much better with three straight wins including a 108 point smashing of North Melbourne, and the Lions were on top of the ladder. A ten point loss to Geelong put the brakes on that but then came five more wins on the trot for Brisbane to hold down second place and be right in contention. There was a stutter leading into the bye with two wins and two losses, but the lead in win allowed the Lions to regain top spot.
After the bye Brisbane faced the side they knocked off the top of the ladder - reigning premiers Melbourne. And the Lions were thrashed ausing a fall to third spot on the ladder. They held their spot in the top four with three wins and a loss before a 7 point loss to Richmond had them fifth. Two wins in a row had Brisbane back in fourth but in the last round Melbourne belted them for a second time to leave the Lions in sixth place going into the finals.
Brisbane hosted their elimination final against Richmond and narrowly escaped by 2 points. They then had to face Melbourne again, but this time the result was very different. After being thrashed both times during the home and away season, the Lions upended the Demons by 13 points to progress to the preliminary final. But their season ended there as Geelong destroyed them by 71 points.
2023[]
Echoes of 2021 returned to start this season with a 54 point thrashing at the hands of Port Adelaide. Brisbane bounced back with a win over Melbourne but then a loss to the Western Bulldogs dumped the Lions in fourteenth spot. But just like 2021 they rebounded with seven wins in a row to roar up to second spot. A loss to Adelaide brought that run to a screeching halt leading into the bye and they were fourth coming out of it.
But Brisbane would maintain their top four place for the rest of the home and away season. After an upset loss to Hawthorn, the Lions would only lose two more games - to Melbourne and a massive upset loss to the Gold Coast in the Q Clash. Notably this included the second of two victories over Collingwood leading into the finals where Brisbane had secured second spot and a home final.
The qualifying final was against Port Adelaide, and the Lions avenged their round one loss with a good win to get the week off. They then faced Carlton in the preliminary final and won that to progress to the grand final for the first time since 2004. Their opponents were Collingwoood, who Brisbane had not lost to in 2023. But in a close contest the Lions would be beaten by 4 points.
Reserves[]
At the time of the merger, the Bears were spreading their list over the Queensland AFL competition. The Lions continued this practice in 1997 before opting for a stand alone team in 1998. This carried over into the AFL Queensland competition until 2010 upon the formation of the North East AFL. The Lions played their reserves team in this competition until 2019. After no reserves team due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Lions reserves joined the VFL in 2021 only for that season to be abandoned.
The reserves have won five premierships. The first was in 2001 in the AFL Queensland competition, while the other four were in the NEAFL in 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2019.