The Roar Deal

The despair of May gives way to the delight of July! A month ago, we all looked ahead to a stretch of footy that included the Suns, Swans & Cats, fearing that our season might be over on the other side. Instead, as we reach the other side, we find ourselves back in the top four, with the hat trick dream well and truly revived. It took twenty-two years for our last win in Geelong. We only had t...

And just like that, the season is alive once again. After the loss to Freo that left us sitting perilously at 6 wins and 6 losses, we were all looking ahead to the next month of footy with a sense of fear and trepidation. Gold Coast, Sydney and Geelong all loomed as mighty obstacles in the form we’d been showing, with even one win from that stretch seeming unlikely. But now, following our best per...

We started 2026 with a dream burning bright. After the extraordinary joy of back to back flags, hopes were high that we might just be on the cusp of seeing another three peat. It was a dream that took some heavy hits in the first half of the year. A steady stream of injuries, stars down on form, and a third quarter against GWS that some of us are still having nightmares about dented our belief. Th...

It’s been a bit bumpy, it’s been a bit tough, and it’s had one or two existential crises in it - in other words, a pretty customary first half of the season by the Brisbane Lions. And now, as we get the long-awaited reprieve from the weekly rollercoaster of footy with this weekend’s bye, we’re taking stock of season 2026 following our eighth win for the year against the Tigers, leaving us sitting...

Just when things looked to be fading away, the Lions we know and love returned with a statement backs-against-the-wall win to breathe life into the hat trick campaign. It was Brisbane at our best from the start of the game, with the confidence and camaraderie back in full force for a win we so desperately needed. A win over the Suns proved our turning point in 2024, and again in the semi-final las...

Winter is here, and while the skies in Brisbane are blue, the forecast on a football front is starting to look bleak.  As June begins, all Lions fans are trying to process a third consecutive loss that has a few too many hallmarks of a great side beginning its slide. Many of those who’ve been on the journey a while now say that similarities to 2005 are starting to appear, with the sense of an endi...

The last time we went to Engie Stadium, we left with a historic match full of memories we’ll never forget. This time, the same thing has happened again - but for all the wrong reasons. Amidst a resoundingly successful era under Chris Fagan, there has been a scattering of very dark days amidst all the joy. Round 1 against Port Adelaide in 2023 comes to mind, as does ANZAC Day against the Giants in...

Round 10 in 2025 saw a frustrating and unexpected loss to the Demons at the Gabba, leading many to question the hunger and application of the reigning premiers. This week, history has rhymed, with Round 10 2026 leading us to feel a range of similarly flat emotions.   Amidst a wet and worrying Thursday night at the Gabba, a dominant Geelong win has given us our greatest concerns for the season so f...

We all knew Carlton had one good half of footy in them - I just don’t think any of us expected it to be the second half! After a scratchy finish at the Gabba, we’re just glad to have banked the four points, recovering from a bumpy 0-2 start to the year to make it to 6 and 3 as the fixture starts to get a little trickier. The table-topping Dockers, the always-tricky Giants and Damien Hardwick’s ann...

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For the first time in a very long time, the Lions went into a match against a struggling opponent that they should have beaten comfortably without any struggles, and actually ended up doing just that. It was a stress-free day of enjoyable footy in our third go at footy’s new primetime slot of 12:30pm for the year - well, at least, it was stress-free, until a rogue Auskick dad’s photo blew up to be...

Two years ago, it was the ANZAC Round that had us just about giving up hope of ever seeing this Lions group holding up a flag. This year, ANZAC Round was an emphatic reminder of why these Lions have gone on to win the last two of them. On Sunday, the clouds parted and the blue sky returned in Brisbane. The same thing happened for the Lions, with last week’s loss against the Demons now a distant me...

Just when you’re starting to enjoy footy again for the year, it goes and breaks your heart. It’s only mid-April, but we’re already up against it after suffering our third loss for the year against the Demons in a Sunday afternoon nailbiter. With some questionable form, some even more questionable umpiring calls, and a new set of injuries to worry about, it was a gloomy afternoon at the MCG.   It’s...

For the first time in 2026, we’re on the right side of the ledger. A hard-fought win over North Melbourne in the Barossa sees us now sitting 3 and 2, with the regional South Australian grounds off the cards until at least 2028 as well.   Today on the Roar Deal, we’ll recap our fourth-straight Gather Round win and turn our attention to our first trip to the MCG since last year’s Grand Final. Also t...

Now this is a much nicer way to start the Easter long weekend! After two years of Easter Thursday deflation, the Lions have made a statement against Collingwood to even the ledger to 2-2 as we enter April. There are so many storylines in the wash-up: Sam Draper’s domination, Oscar Allen finding form, Kiddy Coleman back to his best already, Will Ashcroft the new midfield leader - it’s hard to know...

For the first time since September 27, we’re back on the winners list. The timeslot was odd and the rivalry was unconventional, so it probably shouldn’t be any great shock that the game itself was very weird too. At any rate, the 2026 campaign is now off and running, with a last quarter crusade showing the best of Brisbane and ensuring we can avoid the pain of a zero-three start. We have very litt...

The Brisbane Lions have had many great rivalries over the years - Essendon at the beginning of the early 2000’s dynasty, Collingwood in the years that followed, Port Adelaide after the pain of 2004, and then a run of sides in recent years: Richmond, Melbourne, Geelong, and, at long last, the Gold Coast too. And now, apparently, it’s time for St Kilda. This might just be one of the weirdest rivalri...

It’s only the middle of March, but the panic is here. After a shocker in Sydney, the stakes are starting to feel heightened already. With another twenty-one games to go in a very long 2026 season, we can afford to lose no more than four of them if we want to finish in the top four. 17-4 is a big ask in any circumstances, let alone when you’re the reigning premiers and have the entire competition b...

We’re only one game into the 2026 season, and yet we’ve already seen a shock debut, a big-name injury scare, three MRO dramas, a high-quality blockbuster and a down to the wire heartbreaking loss. It’s been almost an entire season’s worth of drama already! Not that we have much time to look back, though, with a red-hot Sydney awaiting, and a bunch of reinforcements needing to be called upon alread...

Autumn is here, the Gabba goal posts are up, and it’s time to unfurl another flag. On the last Saturday of September last year, a fourth quarter avalanche sealed the club’s fifth flag since the merger. This weekend, on the first Saturday of March, we begin the quest for our sixth. And we have one of the biggest Roar Deal episodes of all time to launch season 2026. Coming up on the podcast this wee...

After another summer spent basking, footy is just about upon us again. Next Saturday night (assuming no cyclones form between now and then), the Lions will unfurl the Premiership flag for the second consecutive year, before kicking off the 2026 AFL season against the Western Bulldogs. We’ve had one dose of pre-season footy already in last week’s hit-out against Carlton, and there’s still one to co...

In a very special edition of the Roar Deal, Ursula Fagan joins us in studio to share her story and her perspective on the rise of the Lions.

It began with a brief comment from Chris Fagan on a pre-season podcast for the AFL website. It’s ended with an all-out media war between two football clubs. It’s a rivalry that hasn’t had much heat in it since Mal Michael and Chris Scott targeted an injured Nick Riewoldt in 2005, but courtesy of an interview by the Roar Deal’s own Michael Whiting, the tensions between Brisbane and St Kilda have bo...

At the beginning of 2003, the second Lord Of The Rings Movie had just been released in cinemas, John Howard was Prime Minister, and Leigh Matthews’ Brisbane Lions side set out on their quest for a third successive premiership, hoping to become the first side since Melbourne 50 years earlier to complete the hat trick. 23 years later, as the 2026 AFL season draws near, we’re all hoping history might...

Chris Fagan joins us at Brisbane Powerhouse on Friday November 28, 2025 to celebrate the 2025 Premiership.