Brisbane Lions legend and current board member Leigh Matthews has slapped down suggestions that the Lions’ chance of winning an AFL flag has been and gone after a difficult start to the season. After narrowly going down in last year’s grand final, Brisbane have started 2024 winless after three games and sit 14th on the ladder.
To make matters worse, recent reports have emerged that there is friction among the Lions playing group, stemming from numerous relationship breakdowns following a post-season Las Vegas trip. The Herald Sun reported last week that a member of the travelling brigade had “accidentally uploaded a WhatsApp group chat to iCloud”. The content was then read by that person’s partner before being passed on to other wives and girlfriends.
It was also reported that “some of the wild antics being discussed in the group chat”, resulted in certain Lions players splitting from their partners following the US trip. Brisbane chief executive Greg Swann moved to bring the Brisbane leadership group into the club on Good Friday to discuss the fallout from the trip amid growing concerns at the club. Following that meeting, the club deemed that the off-season antics had no bearing on the Lions’ sluggish start to 2024 and Matthews agrees, putting it down to the ebbs and flows of footy.
In the past five years, the Lions have never missed the top eight but haven’t managed to win a grand final in that time, with their last premiership coming back in 2003. And Matthews says it is “way too early” to suggest Brisbane have missed their chance to break their premiership drought. “It is a bad start to the year, no doubt about that,” he said on Nine’s Footy Furnace.
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