By Peter Blucher
Why is 15 July 2006 a very special day in Queensland football history?
It was Round 15 of the AFL season, when, in a Saturday night game under the roof at Marvel Stadium, the 12th-placed Brisbane Lions came from 27 points down in the second quarter and 19 points down early in the final quarter to beat 13th-placed North Melbourne by a point.
You’d get half points for knowing it was Jason Akermanis’ 248th and last game for the Brisbane Lions. He’d kicked three goals, including two in the last quarter and what proved to be the winner, but was dropped the following week.
It was the second time that year he’d been left out for off-field matters which were later confirmed to be a refusal to accept and maintain the team-first attitude required.
Three months later, after requesting a trade to the Western Bulldogs, he was off-loaded for pick #34 in the 2006 National Draft.
But the big historical takeaway for full points on is the fact that the 22-man Lions side that night included no less than 11 Queenslanders …. captain Michael Voss, Akermanis, Jamie Charman, Robert Copeland, Josh Drummond, Scott Harding, Rhan Hooper, Daniel Merrett, Mal Michael, Marty Pask and Cheynee Stiller.
Since the establishment of the Brisbane Bears in 1987, the merger with Fitzroy to form the Brisbane Lions in 1997 amid the expansion of the competition, and the birth of the Gold Coast Suns in 2011, it is an all-time record.
It is especially relevant this week after the Suns fielded an equal club record nine Queenslanders in their heart-stopping one-point after-the-siren win over Essendon on Saturday night.
Veteran Alex Sexton and Suns Academy graduates Lachie Weller, Will Graham, Bodhi Uwland, Jed Walter, Sam Closehy, Alex Davies, Jake Rogers and Connor Budarick enjoyed just the second one-point win in Suns history.
Sexton and Weller were the survivors from the only other time the club fielded nine Queenslanders – in a seven-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat in 2018.
The other ‘locals’ to play that day in a game in which the Suns led at every change were debutant Troy Crossley, Jarrod Harbrow, Jesse Joyce, Rory Thompson, Max Spencer, Jack Bowes and Brad Scheer.
The aggregate game total of 32 Queensland football products who have played in the AFL this year reached 403 over the weekend. It’s the first time since 2018 it’s topped 400 – with two home-and-away rounds plus finals to come.
The all-time record for most games in a season by Queensland products is 526 in 2009, when 37 players flew the Queensland flag on the national stage.
Twelve of 16 clubs had a Queensland flavor, with the Western Bullodgs game total of 114, including Akermanis’ 24 games, challenging Brisbane’s 123.
The club splits were:-
Adelaide (31): Brad Moran 7, Kurt Tippett 24
Brisbane (123): Jamie Charman 3, Josh Drummond 20, Scott Harding 15, Rhan Hooper 9, Joel Macdonald 22, Daniel Merrett 19, Albert Proud 13, Cheynee Stiller 22
Carlton (15): Shaun Hampson 15
Collingwood (18): Dayne Beams 18
Essendon (20): Courtenay Dempsey 20
Hawthorn (45): Michael Osborne 17, Brent Renouf 15, Brendan Whitecross 13
Melbourne (42): Rohan Bail 1, Brad Miller 17, Ricky Petterd 18, Jake Spencer 6
North Melb (57): David Hale 16, Daniel Pratt 14, Gavin Urquhart 18, Ben Warren 9
Richmond (25): Luke McGuane 22, Andrew Raines 3
StKilda (56): David Armitage 3, Sam Gilbert 22, Max Hudghton 7, Nick Riewoldt 24.
Sydney (18): Jesse White 18
W/Bulldogs (114): Jason Akermanis 24, Mitch Hahn 25, Jarrod Harbrow 23, Ben Hudson 24, Sam Reid 4, Tom Williams 14.
The record for most Queenslanders to play in any one year is 46 in 2012, and the record for most Queensland debutants in one year was 16 when the Suns joined the competition in 2011.