A secret meeting, deadline trade and a crack medical team: How Brisbane transformed from perennial strugglers into AFL premiers

There were only 16 minutes until the trade deadline seven years ago when Charlie Cameron’s wish to leave Adelaide and become a Lion was finally granted.

The Brisbane Lions’ rags-to-riches rise – from perennial strugglers and losing the “go-home five” to this year’s AFL premiers – had an earlier origin, but the Cameron deal was a significant turning point.

Charlie Cameron won his first AFL premiership on Saturday, seven years after joining the Lions from Adelaide.Credit: AFL Photos

The cheeky goal sneak, so well known for his Take Me Home, Country Roads goal celebrations that Lions fans sung it as he left the grand final podium, was the first of a conga line of high-profile recruits who transformed them into a destination club under Chris Fagan.

A 33-year-old Luke Hodge, with 305 games and four flags’ experience with Hawthorn, arrived in the same trade period charged with providing leadership, cultural and mentoring gains.

“Me and ‘Hodgey’ came at the same time, and it was pretty tough in 2018 because I didn’t get my first win until round nine,” Cameron told this masthead after the Lions’ grand final win.

“Everyone was like, ‘Why are you going there?’, and I just saw an opportunity to make myself a better player, be closer to family, and be part of something.”

The recruits

The big names kept rolling in: Lachie Neale (2019) – following a covert mid-season meeting in Darwin after the Fremantle-Melbourne game that year, between the then-Docker, his agent Tim Lawrence and Brisbane list manager Dom Ambrogio – Joe Daniher (2020) and Josh Dunkley (2022).

Ex-Crow Tom Doedee (2023) is yet to play a game for the Lions because of another ACL tear, but looms as an excellent back line addition.

Ambrogio and ex-football boss David Noble – who crossed from Adelaide at the end of 2016 and spent four years in the role at Brisbane – also hit home runs with moves for Callum Ah Chee, Linc McCarthy and Jarryd Lyons.

Only ex-Sun Ah Chee played in Saturday’s grand final, but both McCarthy and Lyons were integral in the climb, while another trade acquisition, Darcy Fort, stepped in admirably for injured ruckman Oscar McInerney.

Lachie Neale is one of Brisbane’s best recruits.Credit: AFL Photos

Former Bomber Conor McKenna also played in the premiership after returning from Ireland to resume his AFL career with the Lions as a pre-season signing in December 2022.

McCarthy played 29 games in seven injury-riddled seasons at Geelong, only to become incredibly durable at Brisbane until his ACL rupture in May this year. He is best mates with Neale, but it was McCarthy whom the Lions approached first, rather than vice versa.

Health and welfare

Brisbane’s much-vaunted medical team helped make Ambrogio’s job easier.

The likes of McCarthy, Daniher, Hodge and Grant Birchall had various physical issues that they largely put behind them in the Sunshine State. Doedee said the medical team’s reputation helped him make his free agency decision, too.

“They have a fantastic track record in that regard,” Daniher said after crossing from Essendon.

“I’ve spoken to guys like ‘Birch’ and other teammates who are fully supportive of the whole structure they’ve got at the Brisbane Lions at the moment. As a footballer, all you want to do is go out and play … I’ve been starved of that in the last few years.”

The Lions’ 2024 premiership is the result of a lot of great work from many different people.Credit: Getty Images

One AFL player manager, who wished to remain anonymous to speak freely, told this masthead that the Lions also had the competition’s No.1 welfare team, headed by Andrew Crowell, which he said made them appealing for prospective recruits.

Ambrogio, who was appointed as Brisbane’s list boss in February 2017 after recruiting stints at Gold Coast and Western Bulldogs, is also held in high esteem in the industry.

This masthead spoke to three player agents and two rival list managers to gain a greater insight into who Ambrogio is and how he operates.

They all described him as a hard worker who was highly intelligent, calculated and strategic; likeable, and always thinking multiple years ahead. But he is a ruthless negotiator determined to get the best for his club – although not unreasonable.

Ambrogio also drew praise for his targeted recruiting and his style of chasing hard those he really wants rather than casting the net wide.

Another of the back-room heroes is national recruiting manager Steve Conole.

Look to the country

Conole and his team’s shrewd eye for talent, combined with a deliberate retention strategy to target, where possible, Victorian country kids and players with prior relationships worked wonders.

He has nailed his first-round draft selections, including Cam Rayner (No.1), Hugh McCluggage (No.3), Zac Bailey (No.15), Darcy Wilmot (No.16), Jarrod Berry (No.17), Brandon Starcevich (No.18) and Kai Lohmann (No.20).

Darcy Wilmot and Will Ashcroft are two of the Lions’ most promising players.Credit: AFL Photos

“We won five games in my first two years, and now we’re here, so it means everything,” McCluggage said.

“Even though we weren’t winning, we were measuring our success in smaller ways, so quarter wins and things like that … then from there, it was the growth of the older guys. The younger guys came in, but they were the guys who showed us how it’s done – Ryan Lester, Dayne Zorko, Harris Andrews.”

The club’s academy program has also been a boon, producing the likes of Eric Hipwood, Andrews, Jaspa Fletcher, Jack Payne and Keidean Coleman.

Two father-son products, Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft and Fletcher, played in the grand final, while another Ashcroft, Levi, has also committed and is set to be a top-three pick in November.

Anyone who complains about the Lions’ academy advantages must also concede that Conole, like his Sydney counterparts, has supplemented that with some great selections down the order. They include McInerney (rookie), Noah Answerth (No.55) and Logan Morris (No.31).

Like with any success story, there is no one answer or moment for why it ended up this way. Instead, Brisbane got a lot right, across a long period, that snowballed into a deserved premiership.

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