Even the most fairytale AFL premierships have featured the same grim element of non-fiction.
It’s the key reason why Brisbane must buck history if their barnstorming season is to end with happily ever after.
For more than two decades, setting aside the repeats, every premier has needed an unsuccessful finals campaign a year or two previously.
Malcolm Blight and Adelaide’s miracle 1997 premiership was the last time the trend was defied.
The Lions certainly looked like a side lacking September experience when Richmond were as much the big bad wolves as Tigers in last week’s qualifying final.
The much-vaunted Gabbatoir looked like a house of sticks once Dusty and co cut loose.
It was Brisbane’s first taste of finals in a decade.
Now they face GWS in a sudden-death semi-final and, like any self-respecting Giant, the southern marauders can smell blood.
To avoid a disappointing straight-sets exit, Brisbane must beat a GWS side brimming with confidence and menace after their mauling of the Western Bulldogs.
The Giants were meaner last Saturday than the two ugly step-sisters combined.
It is no coincidence that Brisbane have replaced injured onballer Mitch Robinson with Nick Robertson, another hard-nut.
But handling the heat shouldn’t be an issue for the young Lions, who fended off Port Adelaide’s aggression superbly in round 17.
Remember, coach Chris Fagan spent several years as a key figure at Hawthorn, the home of unsociable football.
“I am not concerned about our toughness in a finals situation’,” Fagan said this week.
No, the key issue for Brisbane now is poise.
Brisbane led at quarter time last Saturday night and at least had Richmond thinking.
Then it seemed every time the Lions blew a scoring chance, the Tigers roared down the other end and kicked a goal.
Richmond led by 11 points at half-time and it felt like 11 goals.
The Lions ended up with three more scoring shots for the game, kicking a laughable 8.17.
They could have had another 10 and still would have lost.
As Charlie Cameron, Eric Hipwood and co try to rediscover the big sticks, there will be a fascinating duel at the other end.
This will be Jeremy Cameron’s first game at the Gabba since round 14 last season, when the GWS star walloped Harris Andrews in a marking contest.
The sickening blow left Andrews with bleeding on his brain and Cameron wearing a five-game suspension.
Amazingly, Andrews has suffered no ongoing issues and was rewarded for a stellar season with his first All-Australian selection.
Cameron claimed the Coleman Medal to earn the same honour and they said at the All Australian function that there is no lingering animosity between them.
But how Andrews would love Cameron as a finals scalp.
