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Two clubs that have found themselves in a similar quandary in recent times, both on and off the field, matched up on Sunday with striking results.
At around this time in 2013, the Lions were an absolute basket case. It may not have received as much attention as it should have in Victoria, but they were, in fact, the only club that could even be mentioned in the same breath as the Demons when it came to a discussion of basket cases in the AFL.
After unceremoniously dumping their senior coach and heralded club champion, Michael Voss, and witnessing five young cornerstones of their next generation leave for greener pastures in what became something of a mini exodus.
The Lions appeared to be in a state of freefall. They had reached the lowest of lows in terms of on-field prospects.
Uncertainty at board level only served to compound the issue for the club that was fast becoming the AFL’s biggest burden, particularly in the unforgiving Queensland market. The club has 23,930 members signed up for season 2014, which is fewer than last year’s figure of 24,130, and is ahead of only the expansion teams.
Add this to the fact that the Lions have only made the finals once since 2004 – every other club bar the expansion teams and Richmond have made finals at least twice in this timeframe – and it is easy to understand why there has been such a lack of optimism surrounding Queensland’s flagship team. It also justifies the questions about the viability of the club that were quietly being raised towards the end of last year.
Disillusioned Brisbane fans could only watch on in horror as Paul Roos, the apparent reason behind the sacking of Voss, made it clear that he had no intention of returning to his former club. Instead, he chose to take on the challenge of rebuilding the Demons, by no means an easy task, but one that seemed far simpler than dealing with the train wreck that was the Lions.
Roosy was wrong.
As we all know, after months of cat and mouse, Roos eventually became the coach of Melbourne with much fanfare. Demons fans finally believed again, as memberships jumped from 33,177 to 35,911 and if you were quiet enough, you could hear the sigh of relief reverberating around Melbourne from Andrew Demetriou’s office. The Roosurrection was upon us.
You may or may not have heard, but while all this was happening, the Lions scrambled to find a new coach of their own – Justin Leppitsch.
Fast forward to Round 19, and after starting 0-5, the Lions have gone 6-7, including impressive wins over the Kangaroos and Suns, with much of the resurgence taking place after the retirement of Jonathan Brown.
There is an air of genuine excitement surrounding the Brisbane Lions that has not been seen since the glory days of the early 2000s, with the, ‘Mozzie Squad’ of Lewis Taylor, Dayne Zorko and Josh Green injecting life into a fan-base that desperately needed something to cheer for. Off field concerns have also been eased, with Leigh Matthews now a prominent figure on the board.
On top of all this, the Lions have had three Rising Star nominees for 2014, while the Demons have failed to produce one. If fans of teams towards the bottom of the ladder don’t have emerging young stars to cheer for, what do they have?
None of this is to downplay the progress that the Demons have made in 2014. They now have off field stability, with Peter Jackson taking control, and Paul Roos has them playing a competitive brand of footy, as evidenced by their percentage of 72.8, a remarkable improvement over last year’s paltry 54.1.
After giving up 122.3 points per game in 2013, Melbourne are allowing 83.3 points per game this season, which is good for tenth in the league, and not all that far behind the Hawks, who allow 80.2 points per game. Most importantly, the Dees surpassed their 2013 win total after Round 9 this year. All this can be directly attributed to the Roos factor, but what can also be directly attributed to Roos is the dour game style that we see Melbourne employ week after week.
Sure, Melbourne fans must be happy to see their team compete each week, but wouldn’t they also love to feel the excitement that the Brisbane faithful are being exposed to on a weekly basis?
Brisbane’s excitement machine may have won this round, but who knows, Roosy may have some more tricks up his sleeve for 2015 and beyond. At this stage in the battle of the battlers however, it appears as if the Brisbane Lions have the upper hand. Who would have predicted that at the start of the year?
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