Three-Peat! Lions Break Docker Hearts in Grand Final for the Ages

I’ve watched a lot of footy in my time on this desk but nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for what just happened at the MCG. Brisbane have gone back-to-back-to-back, running down Fremantle in a grand final that will be told and retold around Queensland loungerooms for decades.

This wasn’t just a premiership. This was a statement. Three flags in a row puts this Lions group in territory only a handfull of sides in the history of the competition have ever reached, and they did it the hard way, trailing for three quarters before a final term that legit broke the internet.

Kylie stole the pregame, but the Lions stole the show

Can we just acknowledge the entertainment first up, because Kylie absolutely dazzled the MCG crowd before a ball was bounced. The pregame show had the century-old ground buzzing in a way I haven’t felt since I started covering this game, and for a footy nerd like me it’s genuinely exciting to see the AFL leaning into big entertainment on the biggest day of the year. Good for the growth of the sport, good for casual fans, good for everyone who tuned in just for the show and got hooked on the footy instead.

Because once that siren went, all the glitz got put aside for genuine, old-school contest. Fremantle came out of the blocks like a side that had waited its whole existence for this moment, and fair play to them, because for three quarters they looked like premiers.

The Dockers had this thing until they didn’t

Let’s give Fremantle their due, because this article isn’t about dancing on anyone’s grave. Freo’s midfield brigade absolutely won the contest for long stretches, their pressure around the ball was elite, and their forward line made the most of every entry inside 50 in that third term. Purple army fans had every right to be dreaming. At three-quarter time I’ll be honest, I had that sinking feeling every Lions supporter knows too well from years gone by.

But footy is a funny game, and grand finals have a habit of turning on moments rather than momentum. Fremantle will look back at a couple of costly turnovers deep in their own defensive fifty and wonder what might have been. That’s premiership football for you though – brutal, unforgiving, and completely unsentimental about how good your prelim final was.

The final quarter that will live forever

Where do you even start. Brisbane’s last quarter was one of the great grand final quarters I have personally witnessed, and I’m including replays of stuff before my time because the boys on this desk won’t stop talking about 2001 whenever I bring up how good this was. The Lions found another gear that Fremantle simply didn’t have an answer for.

The pressure the Lions applied at the contest in that final term was suffocating. Every fifty-fifty ball, every hard-earned crumb, it all fell Brisbane’s way because they wanted it more in that moment. You could see it in the way the backline defenders were flying at contests they had no right winning. That’s premiership DNA, and this group has now proven it three years running.

• The Lions’ front half pressure forced turnover after turnover in the final quarter
• Brisbane’s bench rotations gave them fresh legs when Fremantle’s tank was empty
• A string of contested marks inside forward fifty flipped the momentum for good
• The Dockers’ response, to their credit, never fully died, keeping the margin tense to the final siren

Three-peat talk is no longer talk, it’s history

We need to sit with what this actually means. Three flags in a row. In this era of the game, with the salary cap, the draft, the list management headaches every club deals with, doing this three times straight is an outrageous achievement. No notes. This Brisbane group has cemented themselves alongside the true dynasties of our game, and as a Lions fan who has watched some genuinely lean years up here in Queensland, watching this club become the benchmark side of the competition is something I never take for granted.

It also matters for the bigger picture of footy in this state. Every time the Lions are competing deep into September, and now winning it outright three years running, it’s another reason for kids in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast, out in regional Queensland, to pick up a footy instead of switching codes. That’s not a small thing. Growing the game up here has been a decades-long project and this era of success is doing more heavy lifting for that cause than any marketing campaign ever could.

What this means for the club going forward

The obvious question now turns to whether this list can go for a fourth. Premiership windows close eventually, they always do, but there’s genuinely no reason to think this group is done. The best sides in history have found ways to refresh on the run rather than blow it all up, and Brisbane’s list management over the past few seasons suggests they’ve been planning for exactly this scenario.

There will be a temptation from outside the club to start talking dynasty overload, to suggest fatigue or complacency might creep in. I’d push back on that. Winning breeds a culture that is genuinely hard to crack from outside, and until someone actually knocks these Lions off their perch in a big one, I’m not buying any theory that says they’re due for a fall.

Spare a thought for the purple army

As happy as I am, and trust me I am buzzing, my heart does go out to every Fremantle supporter who made the trip or watched from home hoping this was finally their year. Grand final losses hurt in a way that lingers, and Freo fans have earnt the right to be gutted after the effort their team put in for three quarters of genuinely brilliant, brave footy.

But that’s the beauty and the cruelty of this competition. There’s only ever one premier, and this year, for the third year running, it’s Brisbane. The Lions’ roar echoed around the MCG long after the final siren, and up here in Queensland the celebrations are only just getting started. Get around it.