By Marnie Vinall

Copyright abc

If you’re a rival club hoping to wait out the Brisbane Lions dynasty to have your own shot at the premiership, here is the bad news: they aren’t going anywhere.

Having won the last two premierships and coming within a kick of three straight, the Lions are poised to remain the kings of the AFL jungle for years to come, courtesy of its fearless group of youngsters.

You could be fooled for thinking Brisbane is a side that might fall off a cliff in the coming years. The Lions came into this season as the second most experienced list in terms of games played (85.9) and the second oldest, with an average age of 25.4. Brisbane ranked behind Collingwood in both metrics by a large margin.

While Brisbane’s old heads — namely its oldest player, Dayne Zorko, and co-captain Lachie Neale — remain prolific.

Its grand final side had eight players under the age of 22 in it, headlined by the two-time Norm Smith Medal winner, Will Ashcroft.

Three players, Levi Ashcroft, Ty Gallop and Sam Marshall, played in the grand final as teenagers. Another, Logan Morris, started the season as a teenager and finished it kicking a remarkable 53 goals.

The other members of the eight — Darcy Wilmot, Kai Lohmann and Jaspa Fletcher — have become invaluable members of Chris Fagan’s best 23.

Morris’s rise has been so meteoric that the abrupt retirement of Joe Daniher following last year’s triumph did not shift the needle as many thought it might be.

The 20-year-old forward famously made his debut last year on the same day he’d gone through a McDonald’s drive thru after a VFL game. He is now a two-time premiership player, barely 18 months later.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he told ABC Sport.

“So I’m super grateful, it’s an awesome opportunity and I’m super pumped for the boys.”

Brisbane’s fearless crop of young guns has fit in seamlessly around the youngsters Fagan inherited when he first arrived at the club in 2017.

Fagan’s side had an unenviable 1-5 finals record through his first three post-seasons at the club, including two straight-sets exits. Since the 2021 finals campaign, Brisbane has gone 11-3 in finals, including a 7-1 record over the last two seasons.

It is no coincidence that the finals record has flipped completely since the eight precocious youngsters joined the club. Lohmann and Wilmot arrived in the 2021 draft, while Fletcher and Will Ashcroft came the following year. Brisbane’s last two drafts have seen the arrivals of Morris, Marshall, Gallop and Levi Ashcroft.

There is no question the Lions have been incredibly blessed by the two Ashcroft brothers and Fletcher coming through as elite father-son prospects. The riches will continue this summer with Brisbane having access to an academy player Daniel Annable, rated by many draft experts as a top-five player in this year’s class.

Nevertheless, it is one thing having access to elite talent like this. It is another to see them actually improving upon their entry into the AFL due to entering an elite environment. For all the gripes about father-son and academy luck, Brisbane should be lauded for building this in Fagan’s time at the club.

When Fagan arrived at Brisbane with the club on its knees, he inherited a list that ranked as the least experienced and the youngest in the AFL. Current leaders Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry were yet to play an AFL game, while Eric Hipwood, Harris Andrews, Darcy Gardiner, Oscar McInerney and Ryan Lester were all under the age of 25.

At 28, Zorko was the second-oldest player on the list behind the 30-year-old Stefan Martin.

According to Fagan, Brisbane empowers each of its young players, something that he has tried to do since he took over as Lions coach.

“We don’t put any limits on them. I don’t go, ‘Oh, you’re a 10-game player so just do your job and don’t be yourself’,” he said.

“We try and encourage our players to play to their strengths and use their weapons, and I’ve done that from the day I first started.

“It took a while for them to have the confidence to do it, but the younger boys who have come into the club in more recent times have walked into that culture and they’re just encouraged to be themselves and to play as a part of the team, of course, but to show what they’ve got. We don’t hold them back.

“I’ll give a shout to our leadership group too. It’s a big group, there’s about eight of them, but they spend a lot of time with the young players and teach them about the game, and I think that’s helped enormously as well.”

It is a beautiful full-circle moment for Fagan that the youngsters he first inherited such as Berry and McCluggage are now a part of setting the culture of empowerment that has allowed players such as Ashcroft to take the league by storm.

“I think the young guys that have come in my draft and after, [have] the intent to get better and look to improve,” Will Ashcroft said after the grand final.

“You can fall into the trap, if you’re young, of just coming in and ticking the boxes and hoping to get a game and hoping to contribute in some way. You’re coming in and you’re looking to improve and get better and to make an impact straight away, because why not?

“The junior pathway now, all across the nation, is really good and prepares young players to contribute at an AFL level straight away and there’s no limitations on that.

“I think that’s the culture that [Jarrod Berry] and those boys have set up for us which filters all the way through the club. Being in these situations for all the young guys to feel the moment only makes it more exciting for the years to come.”

It is one thing having excellent young players on your list, but it is another getting them to bond with seasoned campaigners. This is something Brisbane has managed to do exceedingly well.

“They just keep the place energised and they see the world from a different view, which is sometimes refreshing and it’s a great atmosphere to be a part of.”

“It’s good having the younger boys and the older boys. We get into them a bit, stir a bit of shit with them,” added Morris when asked by ABC Sport about the combination of experience and youth on Brisbane’s list.

So, how does Brisbane’s crop of youngsters keep performing? The answer is simple, according to the Lions skipper.

“They’re naive to what the repercussions are,” Andrews said.

“They play the game fearlessly and they really inspire us older guys to play the same way, so we’re really proud.

“The development is unreal. Guys like Scott Borlase, the head of development at our footy club, he sets a great program, but it also takes those young guys to want to drive and get better.

“We’ve set up a culture where guys can thrive. We want to really focus on that, putting guys in good positions to win and play well, and guys have been able to do that. We’ve embraced them, and they’ve embraced us too, to play selfless footy.”

Morris also paid tribute to Brisbane’s culture of empowerment.

“I think all of us boys are just built for finals. We just love playing in front of big crowds and it gets us up and about,” he said.

“It’s awesome to see us boys play well. I think the club just does really well to back us in and let us do our thing, and we just come out and try and play our role.”