How time, belief, self-belief and courage shaped Brisbane’s glorious 2024 premiership

Brisbane’s road to the 2024 premiership was the result of a decade’s worth of work, combining strategy and meticulous planning. Callum Dick lifts the lid on the Lions’ unsung heroes.

Brisbane Lions players celebrate with the premiership cup after winning the AFL Grand Final after defeating the Sydney Swans at the MCG. Picture Lachie Millard

Brisbane’s drought-breaking premiership is the result of almost a decade’s worth of meticulous planning that combined considered list management with an emphasis on accelerating the development of youth.

The approach sounds simple and even obvious in some respects. But in practice, it took considerable time, effort, self-belief and courage to bear fruit.

In fact, the strategy was already partly in place by the time Chris Fagan took over as head coach at the end of 2016.

Twelve months before Fagan walked through the door, Sydney’s strength and conditioning coach, Damien Austin, had been lured north by the Lions to take over as the club’s high performance manager.

In the nine years since, Brisbane’s high performance program has become one of the competition leaders.

Brisbane are basking in the glow of premiership glory. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/Getty Images

Now, as the club basks in the glory of its first flag in 21 years, the time has come to lift the lid on the unsung heroes behind the Lions’ incredible rise to premiership success.

When Austin arrived at the end of 2015, the Lions had just come off a 4-18 season. In the three seasons that followed they won just 11 games.

The first two seasons under Fagan the Lions finished 18th and 15th. The club was at its lowest ebb.

But, there was a plan.

“There was a high priority early on, when we weren’t going too well, that because we had a young group, we had to get as many games as we could into them so that by the time they were 20 they had 50 games or more of experience,” Austin told this masthead.

“Then when they get to 100 games they’ve got a lot of experience and they’re still quite young.”

Play the kids early and often. It is a strategy many rebuilding teams use, be it by design or necessity. But at Brisbane that was just part of the rebuild strategy.

“Your greatest ability is availability” has become a favourite football adage in recent years.

We need only look at teams like Richmond and Carlton this year, whose seasons were crippled by extensive injury lists, to know it to be true.

Not only did the club successfully blood its talented core group of players early, they were also kept fit and healthy. If you can get 100 games into a player by the time they are 23, instead of 26, then you will get their best years for longer.

Lions high performance manager Damien Austin (C). Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

The perfect example is midfielder Hugh McCluggage, who at 26 has already played 182 AFL games and missed only a handful of starts in his career since debuting early in 2017.

McCluggage was the fastest player to reach 150 games from his draft class and is on track to surpass 200 games next season not long after turning 27.

Zac Bailey will notch 150 games next year before turning 26 and Cam Rayner the same.

Rayner missed the entirety of the 2021 season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and still has more AFL games to his name than many players his age.

It is with that same strategy in mind that the likes of Darcy Wilmot and Jaspa Fletcher have become constants in the AFL side over the past two years.

Wilmot, 20, debuted in the 2022 elimination final against Richmond and has not missed a game since. Ten of his 56 career games have come in finals.

Fletcher, 20, debuted in round 14 last year and has also not missed a single start. Seven of his 41 games have been finals.

Fagan has at times been criticised for sticking with players through form slumps but the result is a young team with considerable experience under its belt – and now, a premiership.

Even when the likes of Dayne Zorko and Lachie Neale retire, the Lions will have ready-made replacements waiting in the wings. It is why talk of a potential AFL dynasty has already begun.

Rayner has been a durable player despite missing the 2021 season. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/Getty Images

The move to Springfield at the end of 2022 also invigorated the club’s high performance program, with access to state of the art facilities now at players’ fingertips.

“When we were at the Gabba we never did a pre-season training session there,” Austin said.

“We trained at Yeronga, Coorparoo, Wilston, Burpengary … probably a dozen fields. We were always on the road somewhere.

“Having a one-stop shop where we can train on the oval, walk off and the players have access to a gym, recovery facilities, ice bathes and the Total Fusion facilities there with the pool has made life easier. It’s made our work-life balance better.

“Players aren’t just driving from location to location based on what we need.”

This year was Brisbane’s most difficult run with injury during Austin’s time at the club. The spate of ACLs tested the Lions’ list depth like never before.

But ACLs are truly an “unlucky” injury. Steps can be taken to minimise the risk but ultimately, the mechanisms involved come down to time, place and for some a predisposition.

“With the ACLs this year it’s been the most missed games we’ve had, but apart from the ACLs we’ve had very few missed games due to injury,” Austin said.

“In previous years we generally sat around 100 or less messed games. I believe the AFL average is anywhere from 130-160-odd. So our availability for a long period of time from a performance and medical side has been great.

“We’ve had availability of players which means they’ve got more games under their belt.”

This year, 11 players played all 27 AFL games for the Lions and two-thirds of the list was fit to play in at least 20 matches throughout the season, according to Austin.

Brisbane has repeatedly come well under the AFL average for games missed due to injury over the past six seasons, which marries up with the rise from cellar dwellers to perennial premiership contenders.

Brisbane’s Springfield home.

But it’s not just the long term list management that has helped the Lions achieve the ultimate success.

Understanding the implications of travel on player recovery has been of vital importance over the past six years and particularly this season, when the Lions had to play three consecutive away games during the finals after finishing fifth at the end of the home and away campaign.

Decisions that might seem minor by themselves can actually have a significant impact on performance, as Austin and the Lions discovered after the grand final defeat to Collingwood last year.

“Last year we trained in Brisbane and flew down (on the Thursday night) but the plane was delayed, so when we woke up players were straight into the grand final parade and everything felt quite rushed,” he said.

And so the decision was made to fly down on the Wednesday this year, “so they could enjoy it without the mental fatigue and physical stress”.

Austin said the mental fatigue was actually the biggest concern from the club’s point of view entering September.

“We were conscious of all the travel we needed to do and giving players a mental refresh,” he said.

“We shortened the days some weeks so they had more time to themselves. We shortened training sessions and gave them a lot more recovery time.

“The mental fatigue was one of the most important aspects, we felt. We wanted to give them a chance to feel like they had some time off to reset and come into training fresh.”

Keidean Coleman was lost in Opening Round. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

For both the preliminary and grand finals, the Lions stayed at the Pullman Hotel which sits just across the road from the MCG.

Not only did it limit time in transit, but the hotel was also equipped with gym and recovery facilities – including the ice bath which Logan Morris famously found himself in at 6am the day after the grand final, while sipping a beer.

“All of those things are something we are conscious about,” Austin said.

At the end of each season a majority of players are at least carrying niggles. Neale (heel) and Eric Hipwood (groin) were two players whose battles with significant injury were well-documented throughout the finals series.

Austin revealed McCluggage had also been dealing with Achilles, calf and ankle issues “over a period of time” which he and the club had successfully managed.

Individual management plans have formed a key part of the Lions’ injury success under Fagan.

Famously, the club was able to get Joe Daniher back to full fitness after years of struggling to get his body right at Essendon.

Austin said the key was to let players take ownership of their bodies and open a consistent dialogue with them from early on.

Hugh McCluggage has been dealing with a number of injuries. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“I generally tell players when they first turn up, ‘you’re going to get sick of me asking how you are’,” he said.

“But it’s about building a relationship as quickly as we can so they feel comfortable and we can form a mutual respect where we are trying to get the best out of them.

“Joe Daniher, Lincoln McCarthy, Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Nakia Cockatoo … we’ve had a number of players come to the club who hadn’t played many games elsewhere but had good availability at the Lions.

“The learning is to treat individuals as individuals. Particularly in Joe’s case … he knew what worked for his body. He’s quite in tune with his body and what he believes does and doesn’t work.

“We have our philosophies and the players have theirs, so we have a discussion and try to tie those in together about what they need to do to get themselves up throughout a pre-season and in-season.

“We have a lot of open communication particularly with Joe and our older players to see where they’re at during the week, month, pre-season and in-season. The door is always open to let us know how they feel.”

Originally published as How time, belief, self-belief and courage shaped Brisbane’s glorious 2024 premiership