Alastair Lynch on the first finals match he played for Brisbane Bears

Alastair Lynch had to wait 150 games before he got his first crack at finals footy. Now the three-time premiership player has some advice for the first-time Lions ready to make history.

THE first final I ever played in was memorable to many people for a number of reasons.

It was a qualifying final in 1996 against Essendon. It was the first final ever played at the Gabba and also the Bears’ breakthrough triumph, having lost in their only September appearance the previous year at the MCG.

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To me it was memorable for other reasons.

It was my 150th game.

Playing 149 games of top flight football without ever making the finals shapes the way you think about your career.

Lynchy gets swallowed up by Damien Hardwick and Dean Wallis in a tackle during the 1996 qualifying final at the Gabba.

You start to feel that finals were just something other people did and when you finally join that group it is an odd feeling. Excited and nervous at the same time.

I clearly remember a time when I never thought it would happen for me. It was almost like they were a different competition and when I approached my first final, it felt like I was in the main draw for the first time.

I can imagine veterans like Dayne Zorko and Stefan Martin, who have waited a long time for their opportunity, have felt the same at times.

By the time I had hung up the boots I had played 20 finals, thanks to being in a strong group that put team in front of personal success and had faith in a plan and stuck to it.

That would be my advice to today’s Lions.

Lynchy relaxes at home before playing his first finals match in 1996.

Finals and grand finals are why we play sport and it is human nature that we build them up so much in our minds.

But the reality is they are just another game. The pace picks up, it becomes a bit more contested and the margin for error narrows considerably, but the way you play shouldn’t change.

The temptation is to think this is a different ball game now so we’ll have to do something different to succeed.

That is the worst thing that can happen.

It is the team that sticks to what got them there that always does the best in the pressure cooker atmosphere of finals because the plan is second nature by now which reduces the chance of mistakes under pressure.

Luke Hodge dashes away from Adelaide’s Ben Hudson during Hodge’s first final in 2007.

Each individual will have moments in games to get the job done. Sometimes these moments aren’t noticeable to others, sometimes they are, but the more you crave those moments the better the result.

The handful of guys in the current Brisbane side that have been there before, especially Luke Hodge with his extensive finals and premiership experience, have an important job keeping everyone relaxed and focused on the job at hand and demystifying what is required in September.

When we returned to finals in Leigh Matthews’ first year in 1999, those couple of campaigns between 1995-’97 had given some of us older blokes just enough experience to pass on this advice to our younger teammates.

But it was Matthews who really embedded it as he had experienced the ultimate team prize on multiple occasions.

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In our meeting on the eve of the final there was no stirring motivational speech. All that would achieve was firing everybody up, which could cause some to burn off too much energy or lose sleep and others to start thinking they needed to spring a September surprise and break away from their role.

Matthews just hammered home what was to be his motto for the entire time the Lions were pushing for premierships, and that was for everyone to understand your role, embrace your role and execute your role – or words to that affect.

And that is what Chris Fagan would be doing, and what he has been doing all year.

That much is obvious, because you don’t hear a Lions player give an interview without them talking about “just playing their role’’.

It is one thing to say it, but you have got to believe it. You have got to trust your teammates and the game plan. The teams that succeeds are the ones that maintain their composure.

We had some great players in our side, some of the very best to have played the game.

But I truly believe our success was based on how we worked as a team, the trust and respect for everyone involved.

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We never won the minor premiership, so we were never the best team year in and year out.

But we were a great big game team because we kept it simple, nothing changed for us, so we knew what had to be done and were so predictable to each other.

Add to that our ability to focus on what we could control and not worry about what we couldn’t, allowed us to more often than not handle the big pressure moments.

I suspect Fagan and Hodge would be saying the same thing to this emerging Lions team.

BRISBANE BEARS 1996 QF TEAM

B: Chris Scott --- Richard Champion --- Danny Dickfos

HB: Tristan Lynch --- Matthew Kennedy --- Darryl White

C: Marcus Ashcroft --- Adrian Fletcher --- Craig Lambert

HF: Jason Akermanis --- Justin Leppitsch --- Michael McLean

F: Craig McRae --- Alastair Lynch --- Roger Merrett

R: Matthew Clarke --- Michael Voss --- Shaun Hart

Int: Dion Scott --- Andrew Gowers --- Nigel Lappin

BRISBANE 15.11.101 def ESSENDON 15.10.100

Goals: Bears: Lynch 4, Leppitsch 4, D Scott 3, Merrett 2, Champion 1, Akermanis 1. Bombers: Alessio 3, Wanganeen 3, Bewick 2, Fletcher 2, Hird 2, Cockatoo-Collins 1, Mercuri 1, O’Donnell 1