If not for the pre-finals bye, Eric Hipwood’s astonishing tribute to Jason Akermanis would likely never have happened.
Hipwood, from Caloundra, and Jack Payne, from Noosa, were part of the Brisbane Lions’ grand-final winning team on Saturday.
The former opened up about his battle with osteitis pubis, which restricted the key forward’s movement and forced him to play a different role throughout Brisbane’s triumphant AFL finals campaign.
The Lions academy product, who grew up on the Sunshine Coast, produced one of the great grand-final moments against Sydney when he slotted a remarkable goal from the boundary line.
Hipwood then recreated Akermanis’ ‘OMG’ celebration, covering his mouth in shock as the Lions seized control at the MCG en route to a 60-point win and the club’s first flag since 2003.
The 27-year-old is sheepish about his nod to Akermanis but thrilled to become a premiership player, especially after dealing with a debilitating groin injury since Brisbane’s round-20 win over Sydney.
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“I’ve never been an advocate for the bye but I certainly am now,” Hipwood said.
“I needed that two weeks off, so I was very thankful for it.
“The great thing about the coaches and physios was they treated it day by day … we didn’t want to premeditate things but yeah there were certainly doubts (about playing finals).
“All the docs and physios, they spent hours and hours on the physio table, working closely with me.
“Fages (coach Chris Fagan) kept it quite simple for me. If I wasn’t touching the footy then my opponent wasn’t touching the footy and taking intercept marks.”
Hipwood, who forged his skills at the Caloundra Panthers and the Lions academy, was drafted in 2015 after the Lions finished 17th.
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They finished 17th, 18th and 15th in the ensuing seasons before things finally started to click.
“I was here when we bottomed out. We had our coach sacked, our GM sacked and we started from the bottom,” Hipwood said.
“It’s quite special to be part of. To be an academy boy as well, a local, makes it even more special.”
Hipwood laughed that his first thought after kicking what proved a memorable goal was “I probably should have put that to the top of the goal square”.
“I was a bit lucky it swung back in, it didn’t spin right,” he said.
“Not too sure about that (Akermanis celebration). I probably shouldn’t have done that. But that’s alright, all our younger boys like a celebration.”
Akermanis was chuffed with the nod.
“I have to have a chat with Eric. I know his dad, I haven’t had a lot to do with Eric,” he said.
“He nailed it. That was really cool.
“I didn’t see his reaction initially because I was too busy cheering. I saw it later and thought ‘wow, that’s pretty cool, some things can live on’. It’s nearly 20 years.”
Hipwood kicked a goal, had nine disposals, three marks and one tackle during the Lions’ big win.
Payne, who came through the Noosa Tigers club, had 11 disposals, eight marks and two tackles.
The key defender missed last year’s preliminary final and the decider with an ankle injury and was left fearing a repeat this season after damaging his knee in the Lions’ elimination final win over Carlton.
The 24-year-old battled through it though and made a crucial tackle against Geelong a week later to help the Lions book their place in the decider.
