The Brisbane Lions are finally on the road back to competence

My repeating of the quote should not be seen as an endorsement – I noticed a few articles mentioning it, that’s all. He’s speaking for a section of the population in regional qld who think they’re ignored and taken for granted. Therefore while the Premier has such a wafer thin majority in the house the AFL shouldn’t expect her to do anything so silly and visible as spending money on a training facility in Brisbane for high paid athletes & give the regions a huge stick to whack her with. The Lions might get some funding as part of an election campaign in 2018. Might. If they don’t forget it for another few years. The Lions simply don’t rate in QLD and there’s no way the state government will risk a wound to help us out. Also I lived in Mt Isa for 3 of my teenage years and while it is an interesting town, I do agree re: comments concerning the lifelong locals.

Agreed, damn well said sir

In Queensland AFL is a distant second to league which has two highly performing teams in the NRL. In Perth and Adelaide rugby league (NRL) is nowhere and takes none of the major sponsors money. I reckon one team here (Qld), one in Tasmania (North Melbourne) and eventually one in the NT (Bulldogs) would make the AFL game truly national but these things take decades.

You must be one of the few people to take any notice of Robbie Katter. He'll be pleased that someone heard him. Coming from Mt Isa his brain is as barren as the countryside there. But that area does need a stand up comedian and the Katters deliver. Brisbane may well become a good AFL team again. Leppitch and Voss didn't have what it takes to mould a footy side but Fagan is doing an excellent job to date. Thank goodness for that.

Well put mate

'Get the off-field right and the on field will follow' is exactly as meaningless as when Andrew Demetriou helpfully advised the Lions to get the on field right and the off field will follow. http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/03/13/lions-dont-need-assistance-demetriou/ In any case the issues the Lions face affect them just as much off the field as on it. The same reasons players are reluctant to join or stay at the Lions are there for potential staff, and it's impossible to imagine a Melbourne club facing the same roadblocks to developing new facilities as are faced in rugby league territory, or the constant fighting to get access to the Gabba. Being on an AFL's club's board carries considerably less cachet in Brisbane than in Melbourne so of course the quality of board members is different. Clubs make mistakes. No one doubts the Lions have made mistakes to get where they are. The question should be whether it's disproportionately harder for a Queensland club to recover from these issues than, for example, Carlton, Melbourne or Essendon who have had similar problems. It seems abundantly clear that it is. I'm tired of having this fight. I'm tired of repeatedly having to prove the obvious to the stubbornly parochial, and then have them pop up again year after year with the same tired clichés as the evidence mounts. I don't have anything new to say because frankly everything I said four years ago is exactly as true now.

They like the NSW teams deserve an academy which promotes local players, that should enable a more level playing field.

The suns troubles could easily be traced back in many ways to recruiting and the AFL sponsored recruitment of karmichael hunt, I know that is a fairly simple assumption but I don't think a Coke peddling qld superstar is what you want around impressionable young men.

The Suns are where they are because of the Suns. They have no one else to blame. The AFL should not have let the Lions fall as far as they have and should do more, faster, to get them up and running (namely forgive the Lions debt to the AFL and do whatever it takes to get new facilities built within 12 months time maximum) but the Lions issues are largely of their own making. Too much boardroom infighting and poor choices along the way. No team, Queensland or elsewhere, deserves on field extras. Get the off-field right and on field will follow. Give them extra players and they've just jump ship like the previous ones because the problems still exist.

The way the afl has handled footy in qld is disgraceful to say the least.

Let's try that again - I agree entirely about revisionist history, Rocky and Hanley had AA years in 2014 and with all the recruitment you mentioned I remember loads of people jumping on board saying we were going to make the finals. We won 7 games in the next 2 years. And as you say long-term there is still plenty of time for things to go south. Leigh Matthews words "do you want a football team in Brisbane or not" should still be reverberating in the boardroom at AFL House.

I think the real story here is that the bar you have to reach to be 'on the road back' seems to have fallen so low it's almost impossible to get under it. A win against a tired Fremantle and getting within seven goals of a flat Port Adelaide doesn't show much of anything, I'm afraid. Jay closes by saying that this is the first time in years that there's a sense that this team could be special, but that's just revisionist history. Things looked considerably more positive at the end of 2014 after a late season resurgence and some very promising performances by first year players, and then the recruitment of Beams and Christensen. As Paul says above, we need to consider the future of the Brisbane Lions based on how successfully they address the structural issues holding them back. There've been some small steps on that front, but re-signing Schache for just two years after months of speculating is once again only a positive against depressingly low standards. And when it comes to addressing the sub-par facilities it seems there is basically nothing to show for years of consistent work. Obviously I'm happy to see the odd unexpected win, and some positive footy being played, but as a Lions supporter it doesn't seem realistic to think too far into the future when the club still faces substantial long term problems.

Hipwood has the athleticism of buddy, but not the strength, buddy was very strong not as coltish looking as hipwood.

I've always followed the progress of the Lions as a club always having a soft spot for them. Even though still down the bottom I can see light at the end of the tunnel and agreeing with your point that they have All Australian candidates in Zorko, Beams and Stef Martin. I've also loved watching the growth of Hipwood, I've heard people comparing him to Buddy in recent weeks, I reckon that's a bit steep so early on I would say a mix between a young Tom Lynch and young Jeremy Cameron. Lych with his size and build at the same age and Cameron with the way he moves and kicks on his left. He has to be the key forward of the future for the Lions.They have the young pieces and midfield stars I really hope that it's the start of Brisbane's rise back up the ladder.

Brisbane is a thriving multicultural hub with a population of 2.2 million, making it the third-largest city in Australia. Gold Coast City's official population as of the 30th June 2016, is 567,644. Surely that's enough people to support two teams. If they continue to struggle it will be a failure of equalisation and make the advantages of being a Victorian team all the more clear.

Lions AFLW team is apparently selling a game to Tassie next year for $100k. Not sure whether this a good move or not, although I doubt they will do something like that once their new facilities are developed

I think it was sponsorship issues, the major sponsors have only committed to the Springfield site. Plus there is a huge financial incentive with the ‘peppercorn lease’ the Lions have been offered over the land – subject to above allegations. The bigfooty Lions page is full of blokes running up various flagpoles for various sites all over Brisbane. There’s now a suggestion to get onboard with USC and their new site in Petrie where the old paper mill was. I can’t see us abandoning Springfield anytime soon though, Sharpless seems determined to get us there come hell or high water.

Paul, I don't know all the details re the Springwood facilities but I don't know why their wasn't a partnership with Aspley who last year opened a new facility in Pine Rivers. It comprises a new oval, training facilities, lighting etc. and construction of a clubhouse and further facilities are planned. The Government kicked in $1 million and surely with contributions from the AFL and Lions this could have been developed into a state-of-the-art facility. I don't know if it is a Northside/Southside thing but if it had of happened they could be using it now.

Economically, NSW is far ahead of Queensland yet can only afford two teams. Is it too early to argue that Queensland can only afford one team? Certainly the last decade has suggested so. If you want to grow the game in Queensland, you want a team that's consistently competitive, like the Swans. When Ablett returns to Victoria at the end of 2017 (or fades due to age), I fear we'll once again have two struggling Queensland teams and empty stadiums in Queensland.

Nice report Jay...all fingers crossed. Injuries are always going play a big part. Let hope the group can keep together.