Since the days of the dog track, the grassy knolls and the open-air social club, the Gabba has undergone more alterations than a Met Gala gown.
Across the course of Brisbane's near three-decade residency on Vulture Street, each and every former idiosyncrasy of the year-round venue has been replaced, with a cauldron of multi-coloured seats replacing what was once quaint and quintessentially Queensland.
The team too has gone through a cavalcade of personality changes, shedding the comical cloak of the โBad News Bears' before peaking in 1996 prior to their shotgun wedding with the 'Roy Boys'. From there on, the โFab Four' was born and the spoils of a three-peat were afforded to all attached to the side.
Still, camping at altitude for too long will cause sickness, as seen by the wasteland born off the back of the brief Voss and Leppitsch eras, with so many talented cubs clearing out their lockers and dispersing to all points of the continent.
Just like the good, these nadir years wouldn't last, as proven by the stark turnaround under Chris Fagan, built off the back of shrewd recruiting and a desire to hand kids the keys on the Gabba's lightning surface.
Having taken the reins ahead of the 2017 season, those without an understanding of Tasmanian football or the Demons' and Hawks' hierarchical make-ups would likely have been at a loss about the contents of Fagan's CV.
However, now in his sixth season at the Jungle King's chief, and with the 2019 AFLCA Coach of the Year Award on his mantle, the both routinely calm and paradoxically irritable 60-year-old has, well and truly, won the masses over.
Though the opening two campaigns under Fagan's watch brought more of the same for the stagnating side that seemed keen to careen away from their successes of yesteryear, from the dawn of 2019 until their come from behind victory over the Giants during Round 10 of the 2022 season, the Apple Islander has helped rebuild the moat around the Gabba.
Throughout Fagan's stint north of the Tweed, the bespectacled coach with a personality akin to most daggy dads has built a winning percentage of 52.8 per cent from his 123 contests to date, with this figure boosted to weigh in at 62.9 per cent from 62 starts at the Lions' den.
Yet, should you strike Brisbane's inability to perform at home come finals time from the record, Fagan's eclectic mixture of kids, veterans and castoffs has proven able to win 32 of their past 35 clashes at their now feared fortress.
But with a league of nations set to converge on the River City for the first time since a robotic kangaroo sought to seduce the entire Commonwealth, and the Gabba, in turn, booked for more than just Botox shots, are track and field athletes from Trinidad and Tobago, Polish Pole vaulters and Latvian Long jumpers set to kill off the club's competitive edge?
After proving successful in their campaign to see Brisbane play host to the 2032 Olympic Games during the latter months of last year, the Queensland State Government under Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that the Gabba would act as the showpiece venue for the world to cast their eyes on.
With this in mind, blueprints and a reported budget of $1 billion were drawn up to boost the ground's capacity to 50,000 and to brighten up the walk from Woolloongabba to the banks of the โBrown Snake'.
Nevertheless, if the old is to be ushered out and replaced with the brand new, Fagan's rebuilt pride will need to be displaced from their soon-to-be dug-up digs.
According to reports from AFL Media in late May, the Lions will be required to find a new venue to host home games from 2025, with the prospect of four full seasons away from the Gabba on the cards.
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Given Brisbane's abilities on their own turf of late have had visitors quaking in their boots on their respective flights north or east, it was only natural that the merged entity's General Manager of Infrastructure, Strategy and Government Relations, Jacob Anson, held a desire to maintain this advantage above all else.
"Our focus will be on maintaining a home ground advantage by playing most games at one stadium and ensuring that we can accommodate as many members and fans throughout the disruption," Anson said of the impending move.
"We are not the only sport to be affected and we will continue to work with government to achieve the best outcome for our football program and supporters."
And with the eviction orders nailed to the door in the same manner as Martin Luther's thesis in the 14th century, the hunt for a suitable interim headquarters is on in earnest.
But what exactly are Brisbane's options?
While offering an array of pitfalls at the present, each of the Brisbane Showgrounds, Metricon Stadium and the club's yet-to-be opened training and AFLW base in Springfield have been thrown up as feasible alternatives to their home of 30 seasons.
Just across the Story Bridge, theย Showgrounds, owned by the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA), could soon host league fixtures for the first time since 1952 whenย Geelong andย Essendonย did battle in the first VFL match played under floodlights.
Yet, as the home of the Brisbane Bandits baseball team can only cater for a capped crowd of 25,490 at the time of writing, despite its picturesque outer and CBD adjacency, it too would require a facelift of some note.
Speaking of his prior consultations with the RNA's governing body, Anson claimed any plans to cross the river were not yet set in stone.
"The RNA has publicly expressed interest in hosting AFL and cricket while the Gabba is reconstructed," he stated.
"The Lions have met with the RNA and more due diligence is required to understand whether it may be suitable."
Once completed and playing house to the Lions during the week, Springfield offers the club the ability to play contests on surrounds that will soon be very familiar to them.
However, with its own capacity set to allow for as many as 10,000 spectators before calling in temporary seating akin to the club's early days at Carrara, there are serious limitations threaded throughout this idealistic landing spot.
With an ability to host league games at the present, Carrara seems the most realistic option to act as Brisbane's home base for the first time since 1992.
Still, given the prospect of sharing their surrounds for the first time since the Bears were struck up ahead of the 1987 VFL, as well as the fact that fixtures on the coast would require a two-hour round trip for Brisbane-based fans every second week, the prospect of creating a competitive edge has already begun to erode.
Having posed the query within the week, the small sample size of supporters who replied claimed that irrespective of potential drawbacks, they would be more than happy to make the trek to Metricon.
Perhaps the Lions' 8-3 record at the venue during the Fagan era is driving this desire to see their vacation seasons stretch south of the theme park strip.
Righto, Lions fans. With the Gabba set to undergo a significant facelift ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games, where would you prefer your home games to be played across the back half of the decade? #Uncaged @brisbanelions @zerohanger
— Ed Carmine (@ed_carmine) June 5, 2022
But with a fleshed-out conversation still to be had, formal surveys yet to be posted and a conclusive answer still some time from being provided, the views of the entire pride are still to be collated.
While standing in the way of the world converging on the Gabba in a decade's time is an impossibility, Brisbane's chances of recreating their opulent dominance between Stanley and Vulture Streets are likely to be slimmed at an ill-fitting, unmodern or shared home ground.
Although the need to vacate is still three years away, plenty is liable to happen within the footy world before the Lions are finally allowed back into their den in 2029 โ after all, not many would have had the Eagles sitting flat last on the ladder when asked four short years ago.
Without flying too far off the handle, nothing can be regarded as concrete for the side currently holding a perfect record at home and the ladder's second rung after 12 rounds of the 2022 season.
Despite present form, Fagan remains no certainty to still be seeing out his stewardship by the stage of return. But with Brisbane's premiership window arguably open to its widest point since the early 2000s, placing anything beyond shrapnel on this occurring would be a mug's wager.
It seems preposterous that an event that requires dense planning, deep pockets and the pull to displace a genuine premiership fancy for such a sizable stint is only set to run for a tick over a fortnight.
However, vane futility aside, the draw of the quadrennial meeting will always outweigh what the Lions can ever bring to the table.
Though the entire organisation has plenty of time up their collective sleeve to plot its in-state safari, with a debt of more than $10 million owed to the AFL as of January 2021, as well as the cramps associated with operating within a small market, is there anything that can realistically be done to halt the world's games blunting their biggest weapon?
One supposes it depends on whether your โMilton Mango' is half-full or sitting closer to empty.
