Gather Round
North Melbourne v Brisbane
12.35 pm, Saturday 11th April, 2026
Barossa Park, SA
By Dan Lonergan
After dropping their first two games due to missing players through injury and suspension especially the Sydney clash, the phrase, ‘premiership hangover’, started to be bandied around regarding the Brisbane Lions.
A month later, the Lions have won their past three after an early season bye to be right in contention with hangover not mentioned except if you have been fortunate enough to spend time without driving afterwards of course sampling the wine in the beautiful Barossa Valley. That is where the Lions made it a hat trick of wins beating the improving North Melbourne at Barossa Park as part of Gather Round in South Australia, now such a big part of the AFL calendar.
I am not really a wine drinker except if it’s sweet and then you tend to drink it with desert, although my late father would often have it with his main meal such as spatlese lexia, which Dad always said was like drinking syrup and he loved it.
Everywhere you go in the Barossa, arguably Australia’s best wine growing region (though Margaret River and Swan Valley in WA, McLaren Vale in South Australia and the Yarra Valley are right up there as well), which is set to be the home of a new ground, if Premier, Peter Malanauskas gets his wish of a five year deal for Gather Round.
The Barossa has many famous wineries like Calabria, Burge Family winemakers, Hentley Farm Cellar Door, Gibson wines, Bethany wines and Jacob’s Creek along with Chateau Barossa. That is just a small sample of what exists winery-wise in the beautiful Barossa and all of high quality with the best food and now there is a footy ground adding in a different way to the culture and tourism, specifically when gather round is on to this wonderful part of the world. Mind You! Wine in the outer at the footy does not really go hand in hand like beer, but maybe that will change. Could one day we see a patron at Barossa Valley standing watching the game or sitting the outer sipping a Cabernet Sauvignon? In fact not just one but a sea of them. Why not ? That look would give the game like it has on the field a different look off the field especially if the venue at McLaren Vale also gets up.
It’s a spectacular site Barossa Park nestled among a picturesque view and Brisbane despite being reigning premiers have not yet played a Gather Round fixture at the Adelaide Oval again found themselves in the tourism mecca of South Australia playing North Melbourne.
Two great mates taking on each other in the coaches box, Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan and the crowd of 10,000 was treated to a good contest with the Roos making the Lions work for their victory.
Brisbane has class all over the ground and to me does not have a weakness, and most importantly quality depth unlike most other clubs. It helps when Former Essendon ruck Sam Draper comes in to replace (the Big O) Oscar McInerney who retired after the flag last year, his first, which was richly deserved having damaged a shoulder in the 2024 finals series and not playing.
With Joe Daniher pulling the pin when Brisbane were successful in blowing Sydney away in 2024, there were concerns the Lions would struggle lacking another quality tall forward to support Eric Hipwood who got injured last year anway. However, the Lions have young players who pop up everywhere ready to play senior AFL Footy and in most cases shine.
Logan Morris was almost an accidental league footballer having been chosen as a late replacement having already played a reserves game and feasting on an after game diet of Maccas before getting the call up. That preparation reminds me of Geelong forward, Peter Johnson eating a pie in the crowd and washing it down with a can of coke in the lead up to the 1981 Preliminary Final, which Geelong again lost narrowly to Collingwood in 1980. You might think there is nothing wrong with that, but this is a famous story as Johnson had to pull the boots on due to the controversial Gary Sidebottom missing the bus.
Going back to Morris, he starred as the number one forward so early in his career kicking over 50 goals and this year is complimented by Oscar Allen, who had an injury hit career at West Coast and was basically ridiculed by his home state and club when he met with Hawthorn’s coaching genius, the proactive, Sam Mitchell about joining the brown and gold in 2026. That became a major story as Allen reached the point of no return, but not to the Hawks’ benefit, with the Lions adding to their war chest of star players.
With the backdrop of the Barossa playing out, Allen and Draper booted five goals between them as the Lions welcomed back, arguably the best key defender in the comp, Harris Andrews after a three week suspension. Hugh McCluggage also came back and with Lincoln McCarthy and Kitty Coleman, who if the Lions won the flag three seasons ago was a massive chance to win the Norm Smith Medal, also returning, you are hard pressed to find a weakness in Chris Fagan’s team.
North Melbourne, as is the case with a young team, are having bouts of inconsistency to kick off the new season, but they are not getting thrashed which was the norm for the best part of six years as this powerful club that played in seven successive finals campaigns under Ron Barassi in the 1970s for two premierships including the historic first ever one in 1975 found themselves at the lowest of lows.
There was another successful era in the 1990s under the hard nosed Dennis Pagan when the Roos were in eight finals series in succession and qualified for seven straight preliminary finals, three grand finals, including two premierships in 1996 and 1999, when the brilliant, Wayne Carey was at his best. North in the 21 st century have played in several finals with mixed success.
Clarko came in when the club was at the bottom of the barrel in 2023 and it looked like the four time premiership coaching wizard from Hawthorn had the Kangaroos on the way to make a rapid rise up the ladder, winning their opening two games of 2023. That sadly for North fans didn’t happen with Clarkson forced to stand down during the season citing exhaustion among other things after the controversial Hawthorn racism saga was getting out of control. The great news was he and Brisbane mentor, Chris Fagan, who was Clarko’s right hand man at the Hawks when this incident was alleged to have occurred, were cleared and Alastair came back to work later in the season.
The form on the ground didn’t improve, but the silver lining was North nabbing high draft picks incuding gun midfielder, George Wardlaw, the silky skills of the outside run of Harry Sheezel, Colby McKercher and the talented Finn O’Sullivan. The results still didn’t indicate externally North was on the right track, but Clarko and his GM of footy, his close mate, Todd Viney stuck fat internally and this young group began to record some wins although littered with poor performances. They realized at the end of 2024, they required an infusion of experienced players from other clubs and nabbed Sydney champion, Luke Parker, Bulldogs Best and Fairest winner Caleb Daniel and West Coast tall forward, Jack Darling to assist new captain, Nick Larkey, who is a gun in the forward line.
All these players have added value and they played some good footy against Brisbane as the wine flowed in the nearby plethora of winery estates and impressive eateries.
There was one special highlight with the emerging, Cooper Trembath taking a screamer right in the teeth of goal. It was a thing of beauty and it proved North in the words of Geelong Legend, Bob Davis, which was his catch cry when he discovered a new player, “ I think we’ve found one.’’ Bobby, I reckon you are spot on and he will add to this developing forward structure. The defence is still a work in progress and did a solid job in reducing the lions with weapons everywhere to a paltry 4 goals 8 at half time as North had belief holding a four point lead, with Luke Davies-Uniake continuing to take his impressive game to the next level.
The Lions though who have gears in the way they play went into 4th gear after half time kicking nine goals to three to win by 26 points over a gallant North, who is definitely on their way up the ladder. In the Carlton game on Good Friday, Clarko at three Quarter time poked McKercher in the stomach pleading for him to improve, which he did. To some that was probably an over reaction especially on the young bloke, but today’s generation often don’t like that sort of treatment. However, McKercher seems to be made of sterner staff and made a valuable contribution.
For the Lions, the result proved with three consecutive wins they are in this premiership race up to their ears again, but does Eric Hipwood get back in the team straight away or wait his turn or even opt to play at another club where tall forwards certainly don’t grow on trees and the list for his services, you think there will be a fair queue for him.
Those that went to the Barossa saw a good game of footy, which was really competitive. The game finished and the cowd poured out of Barossa Park and headed to the wineries and numerous eateries that dominate the Barossa to finish off a great day. See! Quality wine, Food and Footy do mix.
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.3 5.6 7.8 9.12 (66)
BRISBANE 2.3 4.8 9.12 13.14 (92)
GOALS
North Melbourne: Trembath 2, Powell, Larkey, Davies-Uniacke, Darling, Curtis, Blamires, Banch
Brisbane: Allen 3, McCarthy 2, Draper 2, Bailey 2, Rayner, Lohmann, Coleman, Cameron
BEST (Dan’s best)
North Melbourne: Davies-Uniake, Parker, Shezel, Trembath, Curtis, Simpkin
Brisbane: Neale, Bailey, Rayner, McCluggage, Lohmann, Andrews, Will Ashcroft
INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Brisbane: Zorko (calf)
Crowd: 10,613
Read more from Dan Lonergan HERE.
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