By Peter Blucher
Seven Brisbane Lions, two former Gold Coast Suns originally from Cairns, and a Kenyan-born Aspley junior will make up a record 10-man Queensland contingent in the 2024 AFL preliminary final weekend.
Harris Andrews, Will Ashcroft, Charlie Cameron, Jaspa Fletcher, Eric Hipwood, Jack Payne and Dayne Zorko will play for Brisbane against Geelong’s ex-Sun Jack Bowes at the MCG on Saturday night after Port Adelaide’s Charlie Dixon and Aliir Aliir will do battle with Sydney at the SCG on Friday night.
It’s the first time Queensland football will be represented in three clubs on AFL preliminary final weekend as Brisbane goes into their 10th grand final qualifier in 29 years.
The Bears played in the 1996-99 preliminary finals, and since the merger the Lions have appeared in the penultimate weekend of the season in 2001-02-03-04 and 2020-22-23-24.
Since the 1994 introduction of an eight-team finals series and two preliminary finals each year only two clubs have played in more preliminary finals – Geelong (16) and Collingwood (11).
Sydney (10) and North Melbourne (10) are level with Brisbane, while below them are Port Adelaide (8), Adelaide (7), Hawthorn (7), Western Bulldogs (7), Richmond (6), StKilda (6), West Coast (6), Melbourne (5), Carlton (4), Essendon (4), GWS (4) and Fremantle (3).
So, barring injury and the unlikely prospect of non-selection, the Queensland representation in the grand final could be as high as eight, if Brisbane win this weekend, and one or two if Geelong beat Brisbane.
Bowes, a star Cairns junior and a product of the Suns Academy, finds himself one game away from a grand final appearance, two years after effectively being given away by the Suns for nothing.
After playing 83 games in Suns colours from 2017-22 he was sent to Geelong in what effectively was a salary dump. The club gave up Bowes and pick #7 in the 2022 National Draft for a future third-round pick in return for the Cats taking over Bowes’ salary.
His back-ended salary had blown enormously as the Suns had no option but to get at least one top-end player off their books.
Bowes played 17 games in his first season with the Cats in 2023, when the defending premiers missed the finals, but has been a standout through 21 games this year, including 18 possessions and two goals in his first final two weeks ago.
Dixon, a foundation Suns signing from Cairns who played 65 games in the club’s first five years, switched to Port in 2016 and has been a stalwart up forward until his body started to let him down this year.
He’s played 17 games this year for a career total of 220, and is likely to retire when his 14th season ends, having climbed to 13th on the all-time Queensland AFL games list, and 4th on the goals list.
Will Ashcroft will be the only preliminary final debutant with Brisbane on Saturday night, while Bowes will play his first for Geelong.
Queensland football’s first big taste of preliminary final football in the modern era came in 1996, when the Bears lost to North Melbourne at the MCG. Marcus Ashcroft, Danny Dickfos and Matthew Kennedy flew the Queensland flag in the absence of the injured Michael Voss and Jason Akermanis.
In 1999 six Queenslanders were members of the Lions side that fell to North again – Akermanis, Ashcroft, Clark Keating, Kennedy, Steven Lawrence and Brett Voss. Again, Michael Voss was injured.
The Lions won their first preliminary final against Richmond in 2001 in an unforgettable night at the Gabba. A then record Queensland contingent of seven players was made up of Akermanis, Ashcroft, Robert Copeland, Keating, Kennedy, Mal Michael and Michael Voss. It was Kennedy’s last game after a stellar career which had begun with the Bears at Carrara.
In 2002 Akermanis, Ashcroft, Copeland, Keating, Michael and Michael Voss returned as the Lions beat a Port side which included fellow Queenslander Che Cockatoo-Collins.
In 2003, when Ashcroft missed with a minor knee injury, it was Akermanis, Jamie Charman, Copeland, Keating, Michael and Michael Voss that beat Sydney at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney.
And in 2004, in what was the last time Brisbane beat Geelong at the MCG, it was Akermanis, Copeland, Keating, Michael and Michael Voss who represented Queensland in a game controversially played at ‘headquarters’ despite the fact that Brisbane had won the right to host it.
The AFL scheduled the Lions to play in Melbourne under the pretext that one preliminary had to be played at the MCG, but the rule was abandoned the following year.
And, to add further to the frustration in the Brisbane camp, it was scheduled for a Saturday night, which meant by the time the Lions got home to Brisbane late Sunday afternoon, Port Adelaide, their grand final opponents, had had an extra two days’ preparation.
Saturday night’s Brisbane v Geelong preliminary final has been scheduled at 5.15pm specifically so that the Lions can get home on Saturday night.
Amazingly, despite an overall preliminary final record that is equal third-best in the League, Brisbane had to wait 16 years for their next PF appearance.
It was in the Covid-shortened season of 2020 when the new breed of Queenslanders at the Lions carried the local flag against Geelong at the Gabba – Andrews, Cameron, Hipwood, Payne and Zorko. They lost by 40 points.
In 2022 six Queenslanders were part of a Brisbane side that lost again in the preliminary final to Geelong at the MCG – this time by 71 points. They were Andrews, Cameron, Keidean Coleman, Hipwood, Payne and Zorko.
And in 2023 there were an equal seven Queenslanders – Andrews, Cameron, Coleman, Fletcher, Hipwood and Zorko played for Brisbane, and Lachie Keeffe for GWS.
On Saturday night Cameron will play his fifth preliminary final, having also played in the grand final qualifier with Adelaide in 2017.
This is two short of the Queensland preliminary final record of seven, held by Jason Akermanis. He played five with Brisbane and two with the Western Bulldogs in 2008-09.
Nick Riewoldt played six with StKilda, and David Hale split six between North and Hawthorn. Clark Keating played five with Brisbane.
