Grant Birchall says he’s excited to lead the “tough and resilient” Brisbane Lions into the finals as he looks for his fifth AFL premiership.
The Lions defeated Carlton by 17-points at the Gabba on Saturday night to bring their home and away season to a close.
They sit on top of the ladder and could claim the minor premiership depending on the result of Monday night’s clash between Collingwood and Port Adelaide.
Birchall told AFL Nation post-match that he’s proud of the playing group’s efforts so far and can’t wait for the finals to begin.
“I’m really looking forward to it, I’m happy that my body’s back in good knick now and I can have another crack at a finals series which is really exciting,” he said.
“I’ll be there as someone to lean on I suppose. We want to create our own history.
“We feel like we’ve taken some real steps forward this year and hopefully we can keep building and going with the momentum at the moment.”
Birchall said tonight’s win was a great example of the determination and fight of the Lions so far in 2020.
“It was a nice gritty win tonight,” he said.
“We’ve shown a lot of maturity throughout the season.
“There’s been times where the opposition has challenged us, and we’ve been able to bounce back and hurt them on the scoreboard.
“I’m really proud of the boys’ mental strength, particularly throughout those shortened weeks, we came out of that really well.”
Brisbane will play a home qualifying final for the second year running and with the Gabba hosting the AFL Grand Final, Birchall hopes the Lions can capitalise on the home field advantage.
“It’s great, the crowds up here are fantastic, they get behind us,” he said.
“It’s really exciting, there’s a great opportunity for us, we haven’t lost at the Gabba this year, so we want to maintain that and do some damage.”
The 32-year old joined the club at the end of last season from Hawthorn after 248 games and four premierships and looks set to play on in 2021 for what would be his 16th season.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time up here so far, it’s been good fun,” Birchall said.
“I’ll sit down with Chris Fagan and the guys at the end of the year but I’ve reached my trigger to go around again so we’ll see how we go.”