Excellence has not waned under Chris Fagan and while this is their fourth grand final in a row, it is the first they have gone into as favourites.
“G ive me 80,000 people at the MCG and I was Hercules,” Brent Crosswell once said. Crosswell would have been right at home in this Brisbane Lions team. When it’s a sleepy shift in western Sydney or Tasmania, they drift.
When it’s all chips in, they are peerless.
In that time, the competition has changed. The way the game is played has changed. Their grand final opponents have all dipped in and out of contention.
Every six or seven weeks, they will throw in a howler. Against the weaker teams, they’ll toy with them like a cat with a piece of string, and will win the match in 10 minute bursts of interest. Against the stronger teams, especially at the Gabba and the MCG, they will come with nostrils flared.
Even when they are locked in, they have their flaws. All year, they have conceded big scores. Brodie Kemp put four goals on them in a dozen minutes.
By the end of the season, their defensive numbers were about the same as North Melbourne’s. This finals series, they have conceded an average of nearly 20 goals a game.
The coach, Chris Fagan, is not afraid to give them a rocket.
For Collingwood or Carlton or Adelaide, a lean in patch in March or April can feel like those cities are closing in on a club.