Beams only ‘1 of 22’ Pies
BRISBANE have vowed to treat Dayne Beams as just “one of 22” in the clash with Collingwood at the Gabba tonight.
Lions coach Chris Fagan and his players have worked hard this week to hose down any suggestion this is a grudge match against their former skipper, who is now with the Magpies.
“We had Rocky (ex-Lions captain Tom Rockliff) up here a couple of weeks ago (with Port Adelaide) and he was one of 22,” Fagan said.
“Dayne is one of 22. They’ve got a lot of great players, including him. We won’t spend any more time on him than anyone else.
“We’ll just treat him as a normal player from the opposition, we’ll shake hands before and we’ll shake hands at the end.
“What happens in between, we’ve got no control over that, have we?”
But the reality of the return of these two clubs to Easter Thursday ensures this not just another game, with Beams’ desertion the latest chapter in a long and colourful rivalry that goes back to Nathan Buckley’s defection and has featured some of footy’s biggest characters.
There was the time Collingwood president Eddie McGuire snuck up behind then Lions chairman Graeme Downie during an address and dropped a giant sombrero on his head adorned with the words “salary cap’’. It was a
not too subtle reference to Collingwood’s belief Brisbane’s premiership success over Collingwood was unfairly achieved because of the cap concessions the AFL afforded to the Lions.
History tells us the Pies’ constant campaigning to AFL HQ eventually led to the scrapping of the concessions.
According to the Pies, Brisbane weren’t beyond pulling a stunt either with former football manager Gubby Allan accused of ramping up heaters in Collingwood’s changeroom one warm April night.