When a packed Gabba crowd rose in jubilation as Brisbane’s Lincoln McCarthy took a spectacular mark last month against Geelong, Greg Swann gave himself a moment to take in the scene.
Five years after becoming Lions chief executive, Swann was witnessing the AFL glory days returning to Brisbane.
“The Geelong game was pretty big for me. When Linc McCarthy took that mark you just had a glance around the oval and it’s a full house, the place is going nuts, it was where you thought it could get to,” Swann told AAP.
“It probably has taken a little bit longer than I’d hoped but now that we’re here we’re enjoying it.”
Ex-Cat McCarthy’s subsequent goal secured the Lions their 16th win of a remarkable season.
A week later a 27-point defeat against Richmond in front of 77,000 at the MCG didn’t prevent the Lions claiming a top-two finish and a guaranteed two home finals for their first September campaign since 2009.
The journey back to the top started in the wreckage of a divisive 2013 campaign.
A bitter board battle, the sacking of club legend Michael Voss as head coach and the departure of five players during that year’s trade period left the Lions reeling.
Branded the “go home five”, Elliot Yeo, Sam Docherty, Jared Polec, Patrick Karnezis and Billy Longer all left the Lions in a devastating loss of young talent.
In the middle of the following year, Swann took over with a mandate to overhaul the club.
He made the decision to sack Justin Leppitsch as coach in 2016 but the triple premiership-winning defender had left a squad full of potential.
Chris Fagan – a man with over a decade as an assistant coach and football manager at Melbourne and Hawthorn – was charged with moulding that talent.
With Fagan came David Noble as the club’s football manager – part of a top-to-bottom overhaul of the football department.
The two Tasmanians have been vital to taking the Lions where they now are.
“There’s a bit of yin and yang about them,” Swann said.
“Chris is probably the master of the arts and Dave’s the master of the science, he’s a very process-driven person and Fages is a little bit more free-spirited I suppose.
“The combination works beautifully. They’ve known each other a long time so they’ve sort of just fitted seamlessly in and off we’ve gone.”
The new regime measured progress in winning quarters at first.
Fagan would win just five matches each in his first two seasons.
The bare statistics didn’t tell the whole story however.
Swann could see a young team maturing – boosted by Fagan’s masterstroke of convincing ex-Hawks captain Luke Hodge to shelve his retirement plans and play on in Brisbane.
The four-time premiership winner provided guidance as Brisbane’s promise – forward Eric Hipwood, midfielder Hugh McCluggage, defender Harris Andrews – became fully-fledged AFL players.
“You certainly have a couple of dark moments … you get belted a few times and think ‘is this ever going to turn’ but probably the back half of last year we knew,” Swann said.
“At the halfway mark last year we were probably 1-10 from a win-loss point of view but … you could see it happening. The young blokes were getting up to 50 games plus.
“That’s when the industry says the young fellas can cope with the demands and then … we added a bit more experience and it’s all turned for the better.”
Former Crow Charlie Cameron and ex-Carlton midfielder Mitch Robinson are among those experienced recruits while the additions of McCarthy, Jarrod Lyons, Marcus Adams and Brownlow Medal contender Lachie Neale at the end of last season have all become vital parts of the Lions team.
Brisbane is unlikely to ever see the likes of their triple-premiership team from the early 21st century but now – thanks to Swann, Fagan and Noble – Lions fans have a team they can be excited by and proud of.
And if McCarthy soars to take another late mark with the Lions needing a goal in Saturday’s qualifying final against Richmond, you can beat Swann will be giving himself another moment to take it all in.