AFLW Grand Final 2024: Bre Koenen, Ally Anderson and Shannon Campbell on sixth grand final appearance

Two mid-range draftees and a free agent are set to break their own AFLW record in Saturday night’s grand final as Brisbane eyes a slice of history.

They are the three key pillars of the Brisbane Lions’ AFLW dynasty and on Saturday, Breanna Koenen, Ally Anderson and Shannon Campbell will each play in their sixth grand final.

It is a statistic so eye-wateringly unbelievable it warrants a triple check of the history books. But it is true.

Only twice in their glittering careers have the inaugural Lions not featured on the final day of the AFLW season. To them, grand finals are almost as routine as an annual trip to the dentist.

And it is with a broad smile that Koenen allows herself to reflect on a remarkable journey from Magnetic Island in North Queensland to the biggest day on the AFLW calendar.

Shannon Campbell, Ally Anderson and Bre Koenen are all about to play in their 6th grand final. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“I reflect on it all the time to be honest,” the Lions’ skipper says.

“A lot of people can go through their entire careers not making finals, let alone grand finals, so I’m definitely grateful for the position the Brisbane Lions are in at the moment – it’s not something I ever take for granted.

“(When I was drafted) I was just stoked I could play footy and get paid to do it, the last thing I was thinking about was playing in grand finals.”

Koenen was recruited by Brisbane with pick 50 in the 2016 AFLW draft – three spots after Anderson.

Two and a half weeks later, the Lions added signed Campbell as a free agent.

Never in their – or the club’s – wildest dreams could they have imagined the success that followed.

The trio boasts a combined 269 games of AFLW experience. Of those, 45 are finals and 15 are grand finals. They each average one final every six games.

Anderson is a three-time All-Australian and the Season 7 league best and fairest. Koenen joined Anderson in the Season 7 All-Australian squad and was last year named best on ground in the 2023 grand final victory over North Melbourne.

The previous year, Campbell was best on ground in the narrow grand final defeat to Melbourne.

They are, unquestionably, big game players.

“Experience helps,” says Koenen.

“We have fortunately – and unfortunately – been in a lot (of grand finals), whether we’ve won or lost, so we have experienced both sides of the coin.

“And we just keep things simple going into finals. When you’ve played good enough footy all year to get to this point, you don’t need to change anything. We just keep that same mentality.”

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Breanna Koenen had a day out in the 2023 grand final. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos

Brisbane’s winning mentality might be easy to understand but as 17 other clubs have come to learn, it is difficult to replicate.

What makes the Lions’ success even more incredible are the massive hurdles they have had to overcome throughout the journey.

For the first seven years of their existence they were an anomaly: AFLW heavyweights and nomads – a perennial premiership contender without a home.

Before Brighton Homes Arena was finished at the end of 2022, their home games were shared around as many as eight different venues. Training would be in north Brisbane one day and south Brisbane the next.

Amongst all the chaos, they somehow continued to flourish.

“I think resilience is really important in sport, no matter how you put it,” says Koenen. “You have to have it to be able to succeed and I think that’s been a key factor for us.”

That resilience was tested every off-season when the rest of the competition, eager to replicate the Lions’ success, sought to pillage the list of its top-end talent.

In one 12-month span they lost 16 players to rival clubs.

Brisbane’s AFLW team is hell bent on success. Picture: Getty Images

Brisbane’s ability to continually reinvent the wheel, rejuvenate the playing list and return to premiership contention year on year is as unbelievable as it is undeniable.

“The credit has to go to a core group,” declares Koenen.

“(Coach) Craig Starcevich, (women’s football boss) Bree Brock and (high performance manager) Matthew Green. They’ve all been there from the start and have done an incredible job at setting the standard across the competition for everything performance.

“From a club standpoint we have set ourselves high expectations and we really are a professional outfit.”

But making grand finals and winning them are two different challenges, as the Lions well know.

They are 2-3 in grand finals over the journey and enter Saturday’s decider as a clear underdog against unbeaten minor premier, North Melbourne.

Last year the Lions were written off and they proved the competition wrong. Now they get another chance to do it all again.

Brisbane’s best football always comes when its back is against the wall.

“We love it,” Koenen says.

“This year is a little different because the Kangaroos, given they haven’t lost a game all year, are rightfully favourites. I would say that’s fair. But we get written off every year and still go deep in finals.

“It all feels a bit ironic now, but it doesn’t bother us at all.”

Originally published as AFLW Grand Final 2024: Bre Koenen, Ally Anderson and Shannon Campbell on sixth grand final appearance