From 44 points down over halfway into the 3rd Quarter of a knockout Final, on the road, against a team they’d lost twice to during the season, and in spite of being one of the most notoriously bad 4th Quarter teams in the league, the Lions surprised the entire world and not only kicked accurately for a half, they came back and won by 5 damn points to smack the GWS Giants out in straight sets, exactly 5 years to the day since GWS put the Lions out in straight sets at the Gabba.

In all, 44 points is the greatest Finals comeback of the AFL era, surpassing Essendon’s 42-point half time comeback against Adelaide in the 1993 Preliminary Final at the MCG, a game in which Mark Bickley stunted the Crows with a fart in the huddle before the 2nd Half:

It’s also the equal-third greatest comeback in Finals history, tied with Carlton’s famous 44-point 2nd Half comeback against Collingwood in the 1970 Grand Final in front of the greatest crowd in league history (121,696):

All completely different circumstances, and different stages of the Finals, but this game tonight was totally different for one reason – Carlton and Essendon had those margins at half time, Brisbane were 44 points down 18 minutes into the 3rd Quarter, after going 50 minutes without a goal.

And they WON.

For historical reference, the second-greatest comeback in a Final is Richmond from 45 points down against Collingwood in the 1973 Preliminary Final, as injured captain Royce Hart came off the bench in a fabled 2nd Half comeback… much like the Lions, the Tigers’ winning score was 15.15-105.

And the all-time greatest comeback in a Final is Geelong in the 1931 Preliminary Final against Carlton, coming from 47 points down at Quarter Time (7.5-47 to no score) to win by a goal… the Cats won the Premiership the next week against Richmond.