Brisbane Lions teenagers Levi Ashcroft, Sam Marshall and Ty Gallop are set to star in Saturday’s Grand Final against Geelong at the MCG.
Ashcroft, who will be 283 days beyond his 18th birthday as he closes out a fairytale first season in the AFL, will be just the fourth 18-year-old to play in the premiership decider since start the birth of the national competition in 1987.
Only Melbourne’s Andy Lovell (18 years 58 days) in 1988, West Coast’s Glen Jakovich (18 years 188 days) in 1991, and Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher (18 years 141 days) in 1993 have been younger, while Essendon’s Joe Misiti (18 years 320 days) in 1993 and West Coast’s Ashley McIntosh (18 years 343 days) in 1991 played just short of their 19th birthday.
The selection of 18-year-old Ashcroft and 19-year-old Marshall and Gallup means that for just the second time in the national era three teenagers will play together in a grand final. All are first-year players, and together they have played just 44 games.
The only other teenage treble at the ‘big dance’ were West Coast’s Jakovich, McIntosh and Mitchell White (19 years 182 days) in 1991. And they were all second-year players, with a combined experience of 98 games.
The grand final will cap a huge first year for Levi Ashcroft, who will join brother Will in the Lions’ second brother/brother combination in a grand final.
Chris Scott, the Geelong coach on Saturday, played with twin brother Brad, now the Essendon coach in the Lions in the 2001-02 premierships and their 2004 grand final loss to Port Adelaide.
Brothers Michael and Brett Voss played in the 2000 elimination final and semi-final together but not in a grand final. And they played against each other in the 2004 qualifying final, when Brett was at St.Kilda.
Levi Ashcroft goes into the grand final with a huge club first already under his belt, having become the first Brisbane player to have 500 possessions in his first season.
He has an even 500 ahead of Saturday and heads the 458 of Nathan Buckley in his 1993 debut campaign with Brisbane, and Daniel Rich’s 415 in 2009. Will Ashcroft had 398 in 2023 before his debut season was cut short by injury.
Levi Ashcroft will also claim an all-time AFL record – he’ll be the first player in AFL history to play 27 games in his first season.
That Ashcroft, pick #5 in last year’s National Draft, and Marshall, pick #25, are playing in the grand final is not a total surprise. They were always highly-rated juniors expected to be drafted in the first round. And were.
But the appearance of Gallup, pick #42, is one from left field. And not because he was a later pick. At Round 23 this year, the second-last round of the home-and-away season, Gallup had played just one game – in Round 13.
He was recalled for the final H&A game against Hawthorn, and has held his spot since.
Gallop will go into the grand final on a confidence high after three goals in the preliminary final win over Collingwood last week which, according to Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne, was the highest rated performance by a teenager in a final in Champion Data’s 20-year history.
The powerful key forward, who has played more finals than he has home-and-away games, will play in the grand final in just his sixth game – a progression quicker than all but four players since 1987.
In 2019 Marlion Pickett famously debuted with Richmond in the grand final, while in 1997 Gold Coaster Aaron Keating, brother of Brisbane’s triple-premiership hero Clark Keating, played in the AFL grand final in his third game.
In 2003 Brisbane’s Richard Hadley played his fourth game (and his third final) in the grand final, and in 2017 Jack Graham played for Richmond in his fifth game.
Another Queenslander ranks in the top 10 – Gold Coaster Brent Renouf played in Hawthorn’s 2008 premiership side in his eighth game – while Marshall, in his 11th game on Saturday, will sit equal 16th on this list.
And, quite amazingly, Gallop and Marshall hail from the same Sunshine Coast junior club - Warana Park – which was only formed in 2001 and wears the colors of the West Coast Eagles.
But the Queensland football fairytales don’t end there, with Bruce Reville to play in his first grand final at 24 in his 25th game after starting out as a Category B rookie two years ago.
Where the versatile Reville fits in the grand final side will be determined by what coach Chris Fagan does with Lachie Neale. He could either be the sub, or if Neale was to nursed into the game as the sub, Reville could slot into the starting 22.
At the other end of the age scale, Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko will be the second-oldest player in an AFL grand final in the national competition era. At 36 years 230 days, he will be younger only than Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck at 38 years 96 days in 1991.
The Ashcroft brothers, whose father Marcus played in the 2001-02-03 Brisbane premierships, will also be looking to end the Collingwood stranglehold on the rare AFL commodity of father/son/son premiership winners.
There has only been three previous instances of a father and two (or more) sons winning an AFL premiership – and all are from the Magpies.
Bill Twomey Snr won a premiership in 1919 before his sons Bill Jnr, Pat and Mick did likewise together in 1953, and Mick won again in 1958.
Charlie Pannam Snr won a flag in 1902-03 before Charlie Jnr won in 1917-19 and Alby won in 1935-36, and in 2023 Josh and Nick Daicos followed after father Peter had won a flag in 1990.
Final selection notwithstanding, Brisbane will field a record nine Queenslanders in the grand final – the Ashcroft brothers, Harris Andrews, Dayne Zorko, Charlie Cameron, Jaspa Fletcher, Gallup, Marshall and Bruce Reville.
Geelong’s Jack Bowes, a Cairns product originally drafted to the Gold Coast before being traded to the Cattery, will be the 10th Queenslander in the grand final.
This will top the seven-player representation of 2003 and 2023.
In 2003 Michael Voss, Marcus Ashcroft, Jason Akermanis, Clark Keating, Jamie Charman, Robert Copeland and Mal Michael flew the Queensland flag. And in 2023 it was Andrews, Zorko, Will Ashcroft, Cameron, Fletcher, Eric Hipwood and Jack Payne.
How many Queenslanders in total of played in an AFL grand final? And for two clubs?
It’s more than you might think – no less than 33 Queenslanders have played in a combined 69 grand finals. And Charlie Cameron is the only Queenslander to play for two clubs in grand final – Adelaide and Brisbane. The full list is:-
5 – Jason Dunstall (Haw)
4 – Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis, Clark Keating, Mal Michael (Bris), David Hale (Haw)
3 – Marcus Ashcroft, Robert Copeland (Bris), Sam Gilbert, Nick Riewoldt (StK), Charlie Cameron (Adel/Bris)
2 – Harris Andrews, Dayne Zorko, Jaspa Fletcher, Eric Hipwood (Bris), Kurt Tippett (Syd), Dayne Beams (Coll), Stephen Handley (Geel).
1 – Jamie Charman, Jack Payne, Keidean Coleman Will Ashcroft (Bris), Gavin Crosisca, Josh Thomas (Coll), Warren Jones (Carl), Tom Hickey (Syd), Aaron Keating (Adel), Stephen Lawrence, Brent Renouf, Michael Osborne (Haw), Sam Reid (GWS), Lee Spurr (Frem), Frank Dunell (Ess).
After Saturday, when Cameron plays his fourth grand final, Andrews, Zorko and Fletcher their third, Will Ashcroft his second, and Levi Ashcroft, Marshall, Gallop, Reville and Bowes their first, it will be 38 players and a combined 79 grand finals.