Will Ashcroft kicks the ball during Brisbane’s Toyota AFL Grand Final against Geelong on September 27, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
IT’S a rare, quirky and unexpected first.<\/p>\n
As a dynasty gathers steam, Brisbane claimed back-to-back flags with a 47-point win over Geelong in Saturday’s Toyota AFL Grand Final.<\/p>\n
Comparisons to modern-day sides like Richmond (2017, 2019-20), Hawthorn (2013-15), Geelong (2007, 2009 and 2011) and the Lions of 2001-03 are sure to follow.<\/p>\n
But in complete contrast to those Hawks in particular, the 2025 Lions made an unusual piece of history.<\/p>\n
For the first time in the AFL era (since 1990), a premiership side did not feature a left-footer.<\/p>\n
With Joe Daniher having retired after last year’s flag, Eric Hipwood out injured and Keidean Coleman also sidelined, the Lions were left-footer-less in the decider on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Their midfield is also all \u2026 right, including Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft and stars Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage.<\/p>\n
Left-footers are usually highlighted for their ability to break games open with beautiful ball use, particularly from defence, although the Cats on Saturday also had just one in action, in the form of Jeremy Cameron.<\/p>\n
A team that likes to keep possession, Brisbane has instead turned to the right boots of the likes of Dayne Zorko, Darcy Wilmot and Jaspa Fletcher.<\/p>\n
The Hawks’ three-peat was well known for the use of left-footers, with their premiership sides from 2013-15 featuring a remarkable nine or 10 lefties each year.<\/p>\n
Luke Hodge, Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli, Jordan Lewis and Jarryd Roughead were among them, and that’s not even including the ambidextrous Sam Mitchell.<\/p>\n
A win for the Cats would have also made some history, given every premiership team since 2000 has had more than one left-footer.<\/p>\n
But for the Lions, no left was just right in 2025.<\/p>\n
Left-footers in premiership teams since 2000<\/p>\n
Brisbane 2025: Nil
Brisbane 2024: Joe Daniher and Eric Hipwood
Collingwood 2023: Jack Crisp, Brayden Maynard, Tom Mitchell and Scott Pendlebury
Geelong 2022: Jeremy Cameron and Isaac Smith
Melbourne 2021: Bayley Fritsch, Michael Hibberd, Steven May, Christian Salem and Jack Viney
Richmond 2020: Bachar Houli and Toby Nankervis
Richmond 2019: Bachar Houli and Toby Nankervis
West Coast 2018: Tom Barrass, Liam Duggan and Dom Sheed
Richmond 2017: Shaun Grigg, Bachar Houli and Toby Nankervis
Western Bulldogs 2016: Marcus Bontempelli, Lachie Hunter, Tom Liberatore, Jack Macrae and Clay Smith
Hawthorn 2015: Grant Birchall, Taylor Duryea, Josh Gibson, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Ryan Schoenmakers, Isaac Smith and Matt Suckling
Hawthorn 2014: Grant Birchall, Taylor Duryea, Josh Gibson, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Isaac Smith and Matt Suckling
Hawthorn 2013: Grant Birchall, Lance Franklin, Josh Gibson, Brent Guerra, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead and Isaac Smith
Sydney 2012: Dan Hannebery, Kieren Jack, Nick Malceski, Martin Mattner, Ryan O’Keefe and Nick Smith
Geelong 2011: Josh Hunt, Cameron Ling, James Podsiadly and Harry Taylor
Collingwood 2010: Nathan Brown, Travis Cloke, Alan Didak, Ben Johnson, Scott Pendlebury, Ben Reid and Alan Toovey
Geelong 2009: Shannon Byrnes, Cameron Ling and Harry Taylor
Hawthorn 2008: Grant Birchall, Stuart Dew, Xavier Ellis, Lance Franklin, Brent Guerra, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Rick Ladson, Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead and Clinton Young
Geelong 2007: Shannon Byrnes, Josh Hunt and Cameron Ling
West Coast 2006: Drew Banfield, Chad Fletcher, Mark Seaby and Beau Waters
Sydney 2005: Leo Barry, Amon Buchanan, Ryan O’Keefe, Brett Kirk and Adam Schneider
Port Adelaide 2004: Josh Carr, Stuart Dew and Michael Wilson
Brisbane 2003: Simon Black, Shaun Hart, Craig McRae and Luke Power
Brisbane 2002: Simon Black, Shaun Hart, Craig McRae and Luke Power
Brisbane 2001: Simon Black, Shaun Hart, Craig McRae and Luke Power
Essendon 2000: Matthew Lloyd, Michael Long, Scott Lucas, Gary Moorcroft and Adam Ramanauskas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Ashcroft kicks the ball during Brisbane’s Toyota AFL Grand Final against Geelong on September 27, 2025. Picture:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-178625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}