Brisbane’s AFL premiership drought has ended and teary-eyed players have celebrated hard for three days, sharing the moment with their supporters, but one fan has spotted evidence they tried a little too hard.
The Lions won three premierships in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and also competed in the 2004 grand final, but lost to Port Adelaide.
On Saturday, the club avenged their 2023 grand final defeat to Collingwood and broke a 21-year premiership drought with a 60-point thrashing of minor premiers the Sydney Swans.
Celebrations were charged with emotion from the moment the final siren sounded, but images that emerged on Monday appear to show the Lions have dented the AFL’s premier cup.
The vision that appeared on the Today show has been circulating on social media and shows the premier’s trophy in Brisbane with a large bump on the front.
“(Eric) Hipwood probably elbowed him,” one viewer posted.
‘Will you really have celebrated if the Prime Minister’s Cup isn’t somewhat damaged?’ asked another football fan.
“Probably when they were throwing cans at the team song after the game,” another suggested.
“Beer can hit when the boys sang the team song,” another posted.
Brisbane Lions players celebrate their victory with their Melbourne-based Fitzroy supporters, who have held strong since the Bears merged with the Lions in 1996.
Pictures from Today appeared to show the AFL premiership cup with a large dent.
Lions coach Chris Fagan proudly hoists the 2024 premiership cup at Springfield fans day in Brisbane on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions party lasted three days across three zip codes as players sought to share their moment with as many fans as possible.
First, the trophy was taken to The Osborne Rooftop & Bar in South Yarra, where the players partied late into the night.
Teary-eyed and carrying bottles of water, the Lions rewarded their fans in Fitzroy with a trophy presentation early on Sunday morning.
The Fitzroy Lions merged with the Brisbane Bears in 1996 to create the Lions.
From there, the team hopped on a plane and returned home, where they met 6,000 die-hard fans at their base in Springfield, south of Brisbane.
At all three celebrations, the Lions were photographed with the 2024 AFL Premiership Cup.
After an intense night of celebrations, Lachie Neale (left) and Josh Dunkley appeared at Brunswick Street Oval with the 2024 trophy intact on Sunday morning.
Brisbane Lions youngster Kai Lohmann proudly displayed the trophy at Brisbane Airport as they returned home on Sunday.
However, eagle-eyed fans have noticed that today’s images show a trophy that has the year 2003 engraved on it, meaning it is either a replica or the cup that was awarded to the last victorious Lions team. 21 years ago.
Instead, the real 2024 premiership trophy awarded to current Brisbane Lions players was with them at the Mad Monday celebrations.
That means the Brisbane Lions could well have damaged an AFL premiership, but they would have been one of the heroes of the 2003 grand final, like Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis or Nigel Lappin.
“21 years old, he’s bound to take some hits,” one TikTok viewer posted.
“I’m going with Akermanis,” guessed another.
Harris Andrews (left) and Cam Rayner (right) celebrate the team’s Mad Monday with the 2024 AFL Premier Cup.
Dayne Zorko (left) and Hugh McCluggage celebrate with the 2024 trophy intact in front of their supporters in Brisbane late on Sunday.
However, a former employee seemed to have solved the whole puzzle. He said neither the 2003 grand final winners nor the 2024 champions would have received the official AFL Premiership Cup, which would have been safely transported for display until next year’s decider.
But he added that there was a good chance the 2003 official cup had been eliminated, but not by one player.
“We often had to transport the glasses from the club to the Chalk Hotel where they were on display – I’m pretty sure this was a result of them falling over (one of many times).”