AFL QClash: Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns history of hatred revealed

What was once a manufactured dislike is now very much genuine for Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast. On the eve of the biggest QClash in history, get the inside story on the hatred between the Lions and Suns.

Blood, bruises, barbs and an abandoned press conference. Welcome to QClash 28.

Never has there been more interest in an all-Queensland AFL contest than Sunday night’s blockbuster at the Gabba between Brisbane and Gold Coast.

Both entrenched in the top four, with a combined 11-2 record, no prior meeting between these two clubs can hold a candle to the stakes at play. For the first time ever, the scene has been perfectly set for the sellout stage.

Jared Brennan tries to win the ball in the first QClash.

Their shared history is steeped in dislike. From Lions legend Simon Black’s “mercenaries” dig toward ex-teammates Jared Brennan and Michael Rischitelli ahead of QClash 1, to the brutal bash, crash and verbal jabs of their “friendly” practice match earlier this year.

And for the first time ever, the two clubs did not come together for the traditional joint press-conference. There was no amicable photo opportunity between Suns and Lions stars this week.

Instead, the two teams have remained as separated as possible in the build-up to the biggest game on Queensland’s AFL calendar.

Fourteen years ago, when Black lit the fuse ahead of the inaugural QClash with his “mercenaries” barb, it injected much-needed emotion into a match featuring two teams at the foot of the AFL ladder.

The players have long since broken bread, and Rischitelli can now fondly recall the week leading up to the match – which the Suns won by eight points.

Players clash after Steven May’s big hit on Stefan Martin during a QClash.

“In the context of it all it was good to put it out there for the public, for the pre-show if you want to call it that, and it didn’t disappoint,” Rischitelli told this masthead.

“In that first game all I wanted to do – and I’m probably speaking for Jared Brennan as well – was win. It didn’t matter how much by. It was just good to get the win.

“I just want to see some bodies flying everywhere,” the ex-Lion and Sun said of Sunday’s match.

“A bit of banter, a bit of show for the crowd. As long as it is physical.”

Sunday’s “Pineapple Grapple”, as the fans have coined it, needs no such fuel on the fire, given the context of the season. But the genuine dislike, fostered all those years ago, remains.

“(QClash) always has a circle on it,” Suns skipper Noah Anderson said this week.

“It means a lot to our boys. But we want to make sure our actions do the talking.”

From Steven May’s bump on Stefan Martin in QClash 11 that knocked the Brisbane ruckman unconscious and Dayne Zorko’s refusal to shake Touk Miller’s hand and their subsequent years-long feud, to Nick Robertson labelling the Suns “soft” in a radio interview days prior – the QClash has a history of hate.

Dayne Zorko and Touk Miller clash in 2018.

Gone are the days of a Black or Robertson lobbing a verbal hand grenade into the rival camp on the eve of the QClash. But the rivalry is still as heated as ever.

In February, when the two teams battled it out for a half of football in a pre-season “friendly”, the reality was anything but.

In his first competitive minutes as an AFL player, Brisbane father-son Levi Ashcroft found himself in the thick of it when he was twice cleaned up by a Suns rival.

When Ben Long ran through the young Lion a melee broke out that resulted in Ashcroft’s older brother, Will, receiving a $3000 fine from the MRO for his intervention.

A fierce rivalry will resume in Saturday's #QClash - Dayne Zorko v Touk Miller! #AFLSunsLionspic.twitter.com/84guBvBrM7

— AFL (@AFL) April 26, 2019

Two weeks earlier, Anderson had been unveiled as Gold Coast’s next captain. That meant four-time Marcus Ashcroft Medalist Miller, the longtime public enemy No. 1 of the Lions, found himself in their crosshairs.

The Suns midfielder was reminded, many times, that he was no longer captain of the club. Gold Coast’s players returned serve at Will Ashcroft, letting him know that they thought he was undeserving of the Norm Smith Medal he earned on grand final day last September.

All banter, yes. But an insight into the psyche of two clubs who started out pretending to hate each other and now let their mutual dislike boil over wherever possible.

Things got spicy when the clubs met in match simulation earlier this year.

And what of Brisbane’s decision to revive the old Bears jumper and logo for the week? Or as it was colloquially known back in the day, the “Carrara Koala”. A coincidence? Or subtle dig at the Suns - a reminder of the Lions’ history at their rivals’ home ground?

Want to know what this game means? Ask Brisbane assistant coach Stuart Dew, who was sacked by the Suns two years ago after six years as head coach. Ask key forward Sam Day, the inaugural Sun who was discarded at the end of last season and will face his former club for the first time on Sunday.

And ask Suns skipper Anderson, who has played in nine previous QClashes for a dismal 1-8 record, what beating Brisbane means to him.

“I’ve played in a lot of these games now and I still kind of want to leave my mark on it a little more,” he declared.

“I think it’s pretty obvious how I would feel and the group would feel … every time we have played them in the past we have had the belief we can knock them off, but to their credit they have got it done more times than not.

“Talking is going to get us nowhere. We have to show it on the field and that is what we will look to do on the weekend.”

Game on.

Originally published as AFL QClash: Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns history of hatred revealed