Down but never out: How the Brisbane Lions conquered every challenge to reign supreme in 2024

You would have been forgiven for writing off Brisbane two months into the season. But the Lions rose to every occasion en route to their fourth premiership in the AFL era after defeating Sydney by sixty points in the Grand Final just one week ago.

After a loss to Collingwood in round three, the Lions slumped to 0-3, and looked all but done.

And before that, they had coughed up a forty-six-point lead against Carlton at home in round zero before going down to Fremantle by twenty-three points the following week.

Their first victory came in round four against North Melbourne to the tune of seventy points before beating Melbourne at the MCG the week after.

But continued to sink thereafter, only managing thirty-seven points in a loss at home to Geelong before being demolished in Canberra against the Giants.

They stumbled through the next three-game fixture going two wins, one loss and one draw, and sat in the bottom-six on the ladder after round eleven.

A bye in round twelve before they flipped the script, going on an impressive nine-game win streak through the middle part of the season. With victories over the Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide and Sydney.

13-6-1 was their record after round twenty-one as they had rocketed all the way up the second on the ladder.

However, back-to-back losses where they had sizable leads in the following games meant they dropped out of the top four with one game to play.

A Geelong loss to the Eagles and a Brisbane win over the Bombers would’ve seen them jump back into double-chance territory. But the Cats had their game sewn up at halftime.

Meaning the Lions finished the home-and-away season fifth and would host Carlton in the first week of finals.

A five-goal to zero opening stanza set up a comfortable victory, with the scoreline flattening the Blues, having kicked six goals in the last.

They then met the Giants in the second week for the third time this season, after going down in both encounters.

GWS lead by twenty-one points at the main break, and as many as forty-four points in the third term.

But a resilient Brisbane side dug deep and put on eleven of the next fourteen goals to hit the front in the dying stages and advance on to the preliminary finals.

A date with the Cats was the next challenge, and once again, they found themselves behind the eight-ball. Trailing by nineteen points at halftime.

However, they booted nine goals to four in the second half to run out ten-point winners and book their spot in the big dance for the second consecutive year.

If they hadn’t already been through the gauntlet over the past fortnight, then taking on the premiership favourites, Sydney, in the decider was the cherry on top.

The Swans ranked first for points scored, and were top eight in points against. Helping propel them atop of the table for the majority of the season.

To make matters worse, their ruckman, Oscar McInerney was ruled out earlier in the week after injuring his shoulder against Geelong.

Still, the entire football world knew the Lions were more than capable at triumphing on the big stage.

After a relatively even first term, the maroon and gold kicked twelve goals to two over the next two quarters to blow open the game and sit seventy-three points ahead at the final change. And from then on, it was party time.

Kai Lohmann brought the energy early, booting three first half goals. While all of Lachie Neale (35 disposals), Hugh McCluggage (21 disposals, one goal), Jarrod Berry (20 disposals, ten marks) and Josh Dunkley (21 disposals, eleven tackles) ran riot in the midfield. Medium forward Callum Ah Chee kicked four majors and was influential in the forward half, and after some question marks on his future earlier in the week, Joe Daniher stood tall with two majors from 16 disposals.

It was a demolition in the engine room, with all of Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Errol Gulden held well in check.

The loss is Sydney’s fourth Grand Final defeat in-a-row, and third by a margin of at least ten goals.

Young gun Will Ashcroft won the Norm Smith Medal, recording 30 disposals, five clearances and one major. The 20-year-old missed last year's finals series after suffering an ACL injury in round 18.

Along with all the other hurdles, the Lions had to endure lengthy omissions of Lincoln McCarthy, Tom Doedee and Keidean Coleman, all due to ACL's.

Brisbane already boast one of the best lists in the competition and will add to that this off-season. Levi Ashcroft, a top-five prospect in the 2024 draft, is the younger brother of Will, and is touted to be just as good.

Eligible as a father-son selection, he is the son of Marcus, who played 318 games at the Lions.

Academy talent, Sam Marshall, should also land there. He won best-on-ground honours during the Sandringham Dragons win over the GWV Rebels in the Coates Talent League Grand Final.

Resilient is one way to describe the eventual premiers’ season, who overcame every obstacle and will be looking to do it all again in 2025.