Pride of the Lions: Brown and Black into Hall of Fame
Decorated Brisbane Lions pair Simon Black and Jonathan Brown became the latest inductees to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Simon Black was the silkiest of midfielders, a class act who claimed the AFL’s greatest team and individual prizes.
Fellow Brisbane Lions star Jonathan Brown mixed brawn with brilliance, assuming the role as the best centre-half forward in the competition from the great Wayne Carey. The decorated pair celebrated a hat-trick of premierships for Brisbane between 2001 and 2003 and shared the Lions captaincy for a couple of seasons.
On Tuesday, the friends became the latest inductees from the great Brisbane side coached by Leigh Matthews to enter the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
When the 2002 Brownlow Medallist retired after a decorated 322-game career in 2013, Brown said he felt a “hole in his heart” as another champion Lions player left the den.
“Blacky’s legacy is that he’s been one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game,” Brown said.
“He’s so humble off the field, it is unbelievable, so it is almost like he has got a split personality.
“He is not only one of the best ever Lions, he is one of the best to have ever played the game. He’ll go straight into the Hall of Fame, you’d think.”
It turned out Brown, who at his peak would mark any kick within range, was slightly off with his prediction.
Black would have been welcomed as a 2019 inductee after serving the mandatory five years in retirement but had committed to an international trip when the ceremony was on last June. By virtue of this year’s ceremony being cancelled due to the coronavirus, Black and the other inductees will need to wait until 2021 for the next Hall of Fame ceremony.
The former Lions joined St Kilda champion Lenny Hayes as 2020 inductees, while John Kennedy Snr was elevated to Legend status on Monday night. The final four inductees of the 2020 class will be unveiled on Fox Footy on Wednesday and Thursday night.
Similarly to Hayes, Black, 41, is a Norm Smith medallist, having claimed the honour in the third of the Lions’ premiership reign at the start of this century. The 41-year-old, who was drafted from East Fremantle, is also a three-time All Australian and won the Lions’ best-and-fairest on three occasions.
Brown held down a key position in the Brisbane forward line as bravely as he did brilliantly.
A Coleman medallist in 2007, he claimed the Robert Rose Award as the AFL’s most courageous player on three occasions.
According to his premiership captain Michael Voss, Brown confirmed he had the temperament to succeed on the biggest stage when at 19, he kicked a critical goal in the third quarter of the 2001 grand final against Essendon. In a column in 2009, Voss said that when Brown was “up and going, nobody in the competition comes close”.
“There’s the freakish brilliance of Chris Judd, Gary Ablett and Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, among others, but Brown at his best has a presence and an impact nobody can match,” Voss said.
“He makes people scared out on the field … and that’s not something you say lightly. It’s not just a physical fear, it’s acknowledgment of just how good he can be and how he can dominate a game.”
A triple best-and-fairest winner, Brown, 38, was an All Australian twice, was named by his peers as the competition’s best captain on two times and was Brisbane’s leading goalkicker five times.
He suffered a horrific facial injury in a marking contest in 2011 when kneed in the head by Dockers defender Luke McPharlin. But he continued to risk head and chin to his retirement after 256 games in 2014 and is understandably an automatic inclusion this year.
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