Lions fans hold their breath as Brisbane chase fourth straight Grand Final
If Brisbane lose on Saturday, Scott Fletcher reckons it will be his fault.
That is the weight Lions fans are carrying into the 2026 Toyota AFL Grand Final against Fremantle. It is the championship decider for Australian Rules football, and it starts at 2:30pm AEST on Saturday, September 26, according to the AFL AFL.
For Brisbane, it is a fourth straight grand final appearance The Guardian. Winning the last Saturday in September has become routine. Keeping it that way has made supporters nervous.
Fletcher has his method. On grand final morning he walks his Cavoodle, Louis, around Pascoe Vale in Melbourne while playing Angry Anderson's Bound For Glory. He has kept the same routine for the last two years.
He is not alone. The Guardian's fan piece on 24 September 2026, headlined '‘The Lions losing will be on me’: Fan superstitions take hold', captures that edgy mood among Brisbane supporters before the Fremantle clash.
It is a long way from where this club started. Fitzroy merged with a Brisbane side from a city 1,700km to the north 30 years before September 2026. That union built the modern Lions.
The early payoff was huge. Brisbane won the grand finals in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Port Adelaide stopped the run in the 2004 decider.
The current run has its own hard road. Brisbane finished fifth on the ladder in 2024. In the elimination final, which is win or go home, Brisbane held off Carlton to stay alive.
This September has felt different. This time Brisbane went through the first preliminary final, effectively the semi-final that books a grand final spot, against Hawthorn AFL. Fremantle is the last hurdle. The two sides already clashed in Round 12 of the home-and-away season.
There is one selection worry. Brisbane planned to head to the AFL appeals board in a bid to free suspended star Lachie Neale for the grand final.
What makes this stand out is the shift. Brisbane fans once waited decades between chances. Now they walk the dog, press play on the same song, and worry that changing anything will break the streak.
