AFL historian Col Hutchinson labels Brisbane best team since '50s

In the first of a weekly series looking back at AFL this century, long-time historian Col Hutchinson has lauded the three-time champions from the 2000-2004 period.

Hutchinson's passion started in 1958.

"The team that first springs to mind would be Melbourrne," he said.

The Demons won five premierships in a six-year period from 1955 under superstar captain Ron Barassi.

"I'd go very close to giving the honours to Brisbane, I think," Hutchinson said.

"It's the travel factor and quality of the opposition, so with Melbourne, Collingwood was probably the greatest rival but, other than that upset, Collingwood didn't really get near Melbourne in the other grand finals.

"I'd probably have to give Hawthorn (2013-2015) the next ranking, I think, with their three in a row and then Melbourne."

It's an enormous compliment for a club from a non-football State.

However, one of Brisbane's superstars said, while rugby league dominated, football wasn't coming from the wilderness.

"It was much stronger than people think, you think that no one played it, it's a bit of a myth really," Jason Akermanis said.

Akermanis debuted as a schoolboy for the Brisbane Bears in 1995, playing finals the next three seasons.

The Bears merged with Fitzroy and changed their name to the Lions from 1997, where the club finished last the following year.

Nineteen-ninety Collingwood premiership coach Leigh Matthews took over as the Lions finished third and sixth after the next two regular seasons.

However, they slumped to ninth after round nine in 2001. It wasn't meant to be like this for the next 'big thing'.

In round 10, Matthews produced the famous movie line from the "Predator", where he said of premiers Essendon, which had lost only two of its previous 34 games, "If it bleeds, we can kill it".

The underdogs won by 28 points.

"We got some continuity, the good players played well, it's warm (in Brisbane), we got a run on and our boys were flying," Akermanis explained.

The Lions won 16 games straight, toppling Essendon by 26 points in the decider, and ended with a 20-match winning streak. Geelong (1952-53) holds the record at 23.

From 2000 to 2004, Brisbane won 12 of 15 finals, an extraordinary strike rate given the power of the Bombers, Collingwood and Port Adelaide.

The Lions were also undefeated in seven home finals at the Gabba.

"It was a place where a lot of magic happened," Akermanis said.

"It becomes a bit of a mystique in the mind, a bit like the (Boston) Celtics (NBA) back in the day."

The Lions had a stack of Brownlow medallists, including Akermanis (2001) and inspirational captain Michael Voss.

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"I remember Simon Black got the ball off half-back, it's late in the last quarter, he ran, he kicked it, got it back, kicked it again, got it back again and goaled," he said.

"He'd run a good 130m and didn't change (tire), superstar.

"I was talking to (ex-Brisbane team-mate and current Richmond assistant coach) Craig McRae at the start of last season and he said, 'we've got so many great runners, just like we had'.

"When I look back the amount of fast blokes, we had plenty of them, you need lots, they could run and I'm talking repeat speed runs, 3k, 5k, we're talking 12 of your 18 just machines, that's the most underrated thing.

"They were all great footballers, but when you get footballers who can run, you know you've got a chance."

Port ended Brisbane's hopes of matching Collingwood's four straight (1927-1930) in the 2004 decider.