page_title: Brisbane Lions
section_title: Triple premiership success: 2001–2003
hierarchical_section_title: Brisbane Lions / History / Triple premiership success: 2001–2003
caption_attribution_description: English: Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss oversses pre-season training in December 2008.
context_page_description: The Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club who play in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The club was formed in late 1996 from the merger of the then Fitzroy Lions’ football operations and the Brisbane Bears. The Lions are one of the most successful AFL clubs of the 21st century, having appeared in four consecutive AFL Grand Finals from 2001 to 2004 and winning three premierships.
  The club plays home matches in the AFL at the Gabba and is captained by Dayne Zorko and coached by Chris Fagan. The Lions were a foundation team in the AFL Women's competition in 2017 and have featured in two grand finals in that time, finishing runners-up on both occasions.
  The Brisbane Bears were the first south-east Queensland based team formed in the region. They played at their home ground at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast from 1987 to 1992 before relocating to the Gabba in 1993. The club continues to play its home games at the Gabba.
context_section_description: As the Brisbane Lions, the club won its first AFL premiership in the 2001 AFL Grand Final, defeating Essendon 15.18 (108) to 12.10 (82). Lions utility player Shaun Hart won the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground in the Grand Final.
  In 2002, the Lions won back-to-back premierships when they defeated Collingwood 9.12 (66) to 10.15 (75) in the 2002 AFL Grand Final in cold and wet conditions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Early in the contest the Lions lost both ruckman Beau McDonald and utility player Martin Pike (who had already had nine possessions in the first quarter) to injury and had to complete the match with a limited bench.
  In 2003, the Lions would win their 3rd premiership in a row, and second in a row against the Collingwood Magpies. With a number of players under an injury cloud – and having lost to Collingwood in a qualifying final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground three weeks previously – the Lions went into the game as underdogs. However, they sealed their place in history as an AFL dynasty by thrashing the Magpies in cool but sunny conditions. At one stage in the final quarter the Lions led by almost 80 points before relaxing when the match was well and truly won, allowing Collingwood to score the last four goals. The final score of 20.14 (134) to 12.12 (84) saw the club become only the fourth in VFL/AFL history to win three consecutive premierships and the first since the creation of the AFL. Simon Black claimed the Norm Smith Medal with a dominant 39 possession match, the most possessions ever gathered by a player in a grand final.
  The 2004 season saw Brisbane remain in the top portion of the ladder for most of the season. Reaching the finals in second position, Brisbane controversially had to travel to Melbourne to play against Geelong in the preliminary final, due to a contract between the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the Australian Football League (AFL) that required one preliminary final to be played each year at the MCG. Port Adelaide had finished on top of the ladder and hosted the other preliminary final in Adelaide. Despite this setback, Brisbane beat Geelong and reached the AFL Grand Final for the fourth consecutive year. Their opponents, Port Adelaide, playing in their first ever grand final, were too good on the day and recorded a 40-point win.
caption: Michael Voss captained Brisbane to three successive premierships
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