Brisbane Win the 2026 AFL Grand Final: The Three-Peat Is Complete
Shop the 2026 Premiership Collection here.
Brisbane have won the 2026 AFL Grand Final, completing the three-peat with a comeback win over Fremantle. Here's what the win means for this Lions group, and the unusual Norm Smith result that gave collectors something else to think about.
There aren't many clubs that get to call themselves a dynasty. The Brisbane Lions can now do it twice.
The Lions came from 17 points down with only 4 minutes remaining to beat Fremantle 96–89 at the MCG, winning their third straight premiership and completing a run that started in 2024.
And, somehow, it's not even Brisbane's first three-peat this century.
So Nice They Threepeated Twice
Voss. Lynch. Black. Akermanis. The 2001–03 Lions are one of the great teams of the modern era. Now the 2024–26 group has matched them.
That's a ridiculous bit of club history. Two completely different Brisbane teams, two decades apart, winning three consecutive premierships.
For the current Lions, it changes the way this group will be remembered. One flag gets your name in the history books. Three in a row gets documentaries made about you in 20 years.
And for collectors, it means seeking out singles and slabs of the current generation.
Have Will Ashcroft, Harris Andrews, Hugh McCluggage and the rest of this Brisbane group reached the status of the 2001-03 team?
Shai Bolton Won the Norm Smith. Fremantle Lost.
And then there's Shai Bolton.
The purple reign was postponed, and Fremantle didn't get their first premiership. But Bolton still left the MCG with a Norm Smith Medal in his grasp (and not, as many observed, around his neck). He's the first player to win the coveted medal in a losing side since Chris Judd in 2005.
It's a strange addition to a career that's already included two premierships at Richmond and two All-Australian selections.
Would Bolton trade it for a Fremantle premiership? You can almost guarantee it. But he'll be a Norm Smith Medallist forever, and only 43 other players can say that.
What Does It Mean for Their Cards?
There's no automatic three-peat bump coming for every Brisbane card. Rarity, condition, the player and the card itself still matter.
But collectors like achievements, and "three-time premiership player" is now sitting on the résumé of a lot of Brisbane’s best.
Shai Bolton might be the more interesting one, though.
He's a two-time premiership player and two-time All-Australian. He took a screamer against Geelong in 2021 to win Mark of the Year. As of yesterday, he’s also a Norm Smith Medallist … and he's still only 27. Whether Saturday changes his card values is up to the market, but that little quirk in his career definitely gives collectors a reason to chase his cards.
Shop the 2026 Norm Smith Winner: Shai Bolton Collection here.
